2017 WTA YEC: Venus vs Wozniacki in Final; Halep Ends Year at #1

The WTA Tour Finals are happening in Singapore. The semifinal mtchups were Carolina Garcia versus Venus Williams and Karolina Pliskova versus Caroline Wozniacki. The results were Wozniacki defeated Pliskova, thus ensuring that Simona Halep will end the year as the #1 player. She is the 13th person to earn the coveted end-of-year top ranking.

In the other semifinal, Venus defeated Garcia 6-7(3) 6-2 6-3.

The final match of the year will thus be between  Venus and Caroline. Interestingly, Venus has an undefeated 7-0 head-to-head record against her sister's best friend on tour. Interestingly, Venus has not won a title this year, despite reaching two major finals (Australia Open l. S. Williams and Wimbledon l. G. Muguruza). Wozniack has won one title (Tokyo) so far in 2017 but played in 6 others (Toronto, Bastad, Eastbourne, Miami, Dubai and Doha) where she lost.

In Singapore this week, which is a very slow hard court, Wozniacki has been dominating her opponents, delivering 3 bagel sets and only losing two sets (in a tight match to Garcia after she had already qualified for the semifinals). She is playing well, but I think that Venus has a significant mental edge due to the head-to-head ad the fact that Wozniacki has such a bad record in finals this year. The two are playing for the year-end #3 slot, the loser will end up at #4. However, it is very possible not having a day to rest will sap Venus' energy and she won't be able to use her power to overwhelm the Dane. I think the final will be a very god match, maybe even as good as Garcia-Venus earlier in the week!

MadProfessah's prediction: Venus.