The 2018 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global starts in four days and most of the elite eight are already in town, getting ready for the season’s prestigious event that boasts a $7,000,000 purse to be divided among a handful of players.
World No.1 Simona Halep will possibly not even play the tournament, as she’s withdrawn from this week’s Kremlin Cup because of a herniated disk and a few days ago she said that she would be “very doubtful” of competing in Singapore if the back injury prevented her from playing in Moscow. Let’s hope that she’ll be ready to play eventually.
On Instagram, the Romanian shared a video from the famous infinity pool at Marina Bay Sands, where she went with her coach Darren Cahill.
Angelique Kerber showed us clips from her on-court practice, while the WTA Finals Instagram account revealed that the German also surprised fans by selling tickets for some time.
Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki has also arrived and, just like Halep, the Dane visited the infinity pool on the 57th floor.
Reigning US Open champion Naomi Osaka is the WTA Finals debutante and her Instagram story reveals that she’s also spending her first hours in Singapore enjoying the view from the infinity pool.
Petra Kvitova informed us about her arrival by posting a view from the airplane.
Sloane Stephens lost her Kremlin Cup opener to Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur 6-3 6-2 on Wednesday, so her arrival in Singapore can be expected soon.
Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina were the last players to join the Singapore singles field, rounding out the elite eight based on results at the Kremlin Cup, i.e. thanks to Kiki Bertens’ Wednesday’s loss to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the second round. Pliskova will make her third consecutive appearance at the WTA Finals, even though this week in Moscow she hasn’t won a single match, losing to Vera Zvonareva 6-1 6-2 after a first-round bye, while Svitolina didn’t even play in Moscow.
Svitolina posted a photo from the court in Singapore, while Pliskova said hello from her flight to Singapore with her husband Michal.
I would appreciate more pictures of the ceremony dresses 🙂 ! From the Little amount I could find, I would rate 1. Kerber, 2. Pliskova (never thought that was possible!) 3. Wozniacki
Claire, I posted the photos a few days later, have you seen it? 🙂 https://womenstennisblog.com/2018/10/20/wta-players-draw-gala-photos-singapore/