Angelique Kerber can now rest easy over the final week of the season, with her place at WTA Finals in Singapore now confirmed.
Kerber will now join Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Maria Sharapova, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Petra Kvitova in Singapore between October 25th and November 1st. the final two places remain unconfirmed, with Lucie Safarova and Flavia Pennetta holding the final two qualification places in the final week. Carla Suarez Navarro and Karolina Pliskova are the two challengers who still stand a mathematical chance of participating in the season finale, though Suarez Navarro needs a final run at the very least, and Pliskova, the title in Moscow. Both won their opening matches to stay alive this week.
Angelique Kerber has participated in the previously named WTA Championships on two occasions, in 2012 and 2013. In 2012, she qualified in fifth place, though failed to win a match. In 2013 she took the last place, defeating Radwanska but losing the other two matches to depart after the round-robin stage. In 2014, she attended the 2014 WTA Finals as an alternate, though was not required to play.
Kerber has enjoyed a strong year, winning titles in Charleston, Stuttgart, Birmingham, and Stanford. She endured a somewhat disappointing season in Grand Slams, losing the in the first round of the Australian Open, and the third round in all other Slams. Quarter finals in Tokyo, Bejing, and a semi final in Wuhan saw her grab her place in Singapore at this late stage of the season.
She is the highest ranked German this season. She has lost her only meeting this year with Simona Halep, defeated Sharapova, lost three of four to Muguruza, and split her two meetings this year with Radwanska. She has not played Petra Kvitova this season.
Kerber’s record in this year-end event is not brilliant, but she has played well enough to certainly merit her place in Singapore. She will not be there to merely make up the numbers.
