The BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global kicked off on Sunday and opening the round-robin format were the victories of Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina, the last two players to qualify for the event, if we exclude Kiki Bertens who entered the Elite Eight when world No.1 Simona Halep retired.
Ukraine’s Svitolina commenced the tournament by defeating Petra Kvitova 6-3 6-3 in the White Group, ending a seven-match losing streak against the Czech. After the match, the sixth-seeded Svitolina said that the victory definitely gave her a lot of confidence and added:
This win … I want to take as one to go forward, and for all those people and haters that were saying that I don’t deserve to be here and I’m not good.
Seventh seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic defeated defending champion Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-2 6-4, saving all 10 break points in the White Group match. The brightest moments for the second-seeded Wozniacki were when she saved two match points on her serve in the penultimate game of the second set.
Two Red Group matches are on Monday’s schedule: first the one between Naomi Osaka and Sloane Stephens and then the one between Angelique Kerber and Kiki Bertens.
