WTA Finals

WTA Finals
Tournament information
Founded	1972 (1972)
Editions	46 (2016)
Location	Singapore (2014–18)
Venue	Singapore Indoor Stadium
Category	Tour Championships[1]
Surface	Hard / Indoors
Draw	8S / 8D (2014 – present)
Prize money	US$7,000,000 (2016)
Website	www.wtafinals.com
Current champions
Women's singles	Dominika Cibulková
Women's doubles	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina

The WTA Finals (formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships^[2] short: WTA Championships), is a professional tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour. The location and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972. Since 2003 there have been eight singles players divided into two round robin groups, and eight doubles teams.

The WTA Finals is unofficially considered the fifth most prestigious event of a season after the four Grand Slam tournaments. It also has the largest prize money and ranking points after the majors. The most successful finals player is Martina Navratilova, who has won 8 singles titles and 13 doubles titles.

To qualify for the WTA Finals, WTA players compete throughout the year in over 53 WTA tournaments throughout the world, as well as the four Grand Slam events. Players earn ranking points on the Porsche Race To Singapore leaderboard, and the top 8 singles players and top 8 doubles teams on this leaderboard at the conclusion of the year (as of the Monday following the final regular season tournament) earn the right to compete in the WTA Championships. For singles, all results from that year count towards a player's ranking; for doubles, only the best 11 results for a team from that year count towards the team's ranking.

Qualified players participate in a round-robin format in two groups of four. The winners and runners-up of each group advance to the semifinals. Doubles teams participate in a single elimination draw.

History

The championships were held for the first time in October 1972 in Boca Raton, Florida (USA) as a climactic event at the end of a series of tournaments sponsored by Virginia Slims, called the Virginia Slims Circuit.^[3] From 1972 to 1974, the event was held in October, before switching to March from 1975 until 1986. The WTA then decided to adopt a January–November playing season, and so the event was switched to being held at the end of each year. As a consequence, there were two championships held in 1986.

The event was held in Los Angeles, California from 1974 to 1976 before moving to Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1977. With the exception of a one-year move to Oakland, California in 1978, the Championships remained at MSG until 2000. The event then briefly moved to Munich, Germany in 2001. More recently, it moved back to Los Angeles from 2002 to 2005. The 2006 and 2007 editions were held in Madrid, Spain. Doha, Qatar hosted the 2008–2010 editions before passing the flag to Istanbul, Turkey, which hosted the 2011–2013 editions.^[4] For the right to host the 2014 edition and beyond, 43 cities expressed an interest before a short list comprising Kazan, Russia; Mexico City, Mexico; Singapore; and Tianjin, China was drawn up in late 2012.^[5] Kazan and Mexico City were ruled out in early 2013,^[6] before Singapore was announced in May 2013 as the new host city for five years.^[7][8]

From 1984–1998, the final of the championships was a best-of-five-sets match, making it the only tournament on the women's tour to have had a best-of-five match at any round of the competition.^[9] It was the first time since the 1901 U.S. National Championships that the best-of-five format was used in women's matches.^[10] In 1999, the final reverted to being a best-of-three-sets match. From the 2014 edition the doubles draw was increased from four to eight teams.^[8]

The winner of the tournament since 2014 receives the Billie Jean King Trophy.^[11]

Official names

The event has a more than 40-year history of corporate sponsorship with the finals named after the sponsoring company.^[3]

Locations

List of finals

Singles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score
1972	Chris Evert	Kerry Melville Reid	7–5, 6–4
1973	Chris Evert (2)	Nancy Richey Gunter	6–3, 6–3
1974	Evonne Goolagong Cawley	Chris Evert	6–3, 6–4
1975	Chris Evert (3)	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 6–2
1976	Evonne Goolagong Cawley (2)	Chris Evert	6–3, 5–7, 6–3
1977	Chris Evert (4)	Sue Barker	2–6, 6–1, 6–1
1978	Martina Navratilova	Evonne Goolagong Cawley	7–6(7–0), 6–4
1979	Martina Navratilova (2)	Tracy Austin	6–3, 3–6, 6–2
1980	Tracy Austin	Martina Navratilova	6–2, 2–6, 6–2
1981	Martina Navratilova (3)	Andrea Jaeger	6–3, 7–6(7–3)
1982	Sylvia Hanika	Martina Navratilova	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
1983	Martina Navratilova (4)	Chris Evert	6–2, 6–0
1984	Martina Navratilova (5)	Chris Evert	6–3, 7–5, 6–1
1985	Martina Navratilova (6)	Helena Suková	6–3, 7–5, 6–4
1986 (Mar.)	Martina Navratilova (7)	Hana Mandlíková	6–2, 6–0, 3–6, 6–1
1986 (Nov.)	Martina Navratilova (8)	Steffi Graf	7–6(8–6), 6–3, 6–2
1987	Steffi Graf	Gabriela Sabatini	4–6, 6–4, 6–0, 6–4
1988	Gabriela Sabatini	Pam Shriver	7–5, 6–2, 6–2
1989	Steffi Graf (2)	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 7–5, 2–6, 6–2
1990	Monica Seles	Gabriela Sabatini	6–4, 5–7, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2
1991	Monica Seles (2)	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 3–6, 7–5, 6–0
1992	Monica Seles (3)	Martina Navratilova	7–5, 6–3, 6–1
1993	Steffi Graf (3)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–1, 6–4, 3–6, 6–1
1994	Gabriela Sabatini (2)	Lindsay Davenport	6–3, 6–2, 6–4
1995	Steffi Graf (4)	Anke Huber	6–1, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6, 6–3
1996	Steffi Graf (5)	Martina Hingis	6–3, 4–6, 6–0, 4–6, 6–0
1997	Jana Novotná	Mary Pierce	7–6(7–4), 6–2, 6–3
1998	Martina Hingis	Lindsay Davenport	7–5, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2
1999	Lindsay Davenport	Martina Hingis	6–4, 6–2
2000	Martina Hingis (2)	Monica Seles	6–7(5–7), 6–4, 6–4
2001	Serena Williams	Lindsay Davenport	Walkover
2002	Kim Clijsters	Serena Williams	7–5, 6–3
2003	Kim Clijsters (2)	Amélie Mauresmo	6–2, 6–0
2004	Maria Sharapova	Serena Williams	4–6, 6–2, 6–4
2005	Amélie Mauresmo	Mary Pierce	5–7, 7–6(7–3), 6–4
2006	Justine Henin	Amélie Mauresmo	6–4, 6–3
2007	Justine Henin (2)	Maria Sharapova	5–7, 7–5, 6–3
2008	Venus Williams	Vera Zvonareva	6–7(5–7), 6–0, 6–2
2009	Serena Williams (2)	Venus Williams	6–2, 7–6(7–4)
2010	Kim Clijsters (3)	Caroline Wozniacki	6–3, 5–7, 6–3
2011	Petra Kvitová	Victoria Azarenka	7–5, 4–6, 6–3
2012	Serena Williams (3)	Maria Sharapova	6–4, 6–3
2013	Serena Williams (4)	Li Na	2–6, 6–3, 6–0
2014	Serena Williams (5)	Simona Halep	6–3, 6–0
2015	Agnieszka Radwańska	Petra Kvitová	6–2, 4–6, 6–3
2016	Dominika Cibulková	Angelique Kerber	6–3, 6–4

Doubles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score in final
1972	no doubles played
1973	Rosemary Casals Margaret Court	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve	6–2, 6–4
1974	Rosemary Casals (2) Billie Jean King	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve	6–1, 6–7(2–7), 7–5
1975	Margaret Court (2) Virginia Wade	Rosemary Casals Billie Jean King	6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–2), 6–2
1976	Billie Jean King (2) Betty Stöve	Mona Guerrant Ann Kiyomura	6–3, 6–2
1977	Martina Navratilova Betty Stöve (2)	Françoise Dürr Virginia Wade	7–5, 6–3
1978	Billie Jean King (3) Martina Navratilova (2)	Virginia Wade Françoise Dürr	6–4, 6–4
1979	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve (3)	Sue Barker Ann Kiyomura	7–6, 7–6
1980	Billie Jean King (4) Martina Navratilova (3)	Rosemary Casals Wendy Turnbull	6–3, 4–6, 6–3
1981	Martina Navratilova (4) Pam Shriver	Barbara Potter Sharon Walsh	6–0, 7–6(8–6)
1982	Martina Navratilova (5) Pam Shriver (2)	Kathy Jordan Anne Smith	6–4, 6–3
1983	Martina Navratilova (6) Pam Shriver (3)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Eva Pfaff	7–5, 6–2
1984	Martina Navratilova (7) Pam Shriver (4)	Jo Durie Ann Kiyomura	6–3, 6–1
1985	Martina Navratilova (8) Pam Shriver (5)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	6–7(4–7), 6–4, 7–6(7–5)
1986 (Mar.)	Hana Mandlíková Wendy Turnbull	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	6–4, 6–7(4–7), 6–3
1986 (Nov.)	Martina Navratilova (9) Pam Shriver (6)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	7–6(7–1), 6–3
1987	Martina Navratilova (10) Pam Shriver (7)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	6–1, 6–1
1988	Martina Navratilova (11) Pam Shriver (8)	Larisa Savchenko Natalia Zvereva	6–3, 6–4
1989	Martina Navratilova (12) Pam Shriver (9)	Larisa Savchenko Natalia Zvereva	6–3, 6–2
1990	Kathy Jordan Elizabeth Smylie	Mercedes Paz Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	7–6(7–4), 6–4
1991	Martina Navratilova (13) Pam Shriver (10)	Gigi Fernández Jana Novotná	4–6, 7–5, 6–4
1992	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Helena Suková	Jana Novotná Larisa Savchenko Neiland	7–6(7–4), 6–1
1993	Gigi Fernández Natalia Zvereva	Jana Novotná Larisa Neiland	6–3, 7–5
1994	Gigi Fernández (2) Natasha Zvereva (2)	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–7(4–7), 6–3
1995	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (2)	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	6–2, 6–1
1996	Lindsay Davenport Mary Joe Fernández	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–2
1997	Lindsay Davenport (2) Jana Novotná (2)	Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat	6–7(5–7), 6–3, 6–2
1998	Lindsay Davenport (3) Natasha Zvereva (3)	Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat	6–7(6–8), 7–5, 6–3
1999	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Larisa Neiland	6–4, 6–4
2000	Martina Hingis (2) Anna Kournikova (2)	Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf	6–2, 6–3
2001	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	7–5, 3–6, 6–3
2002	Elena Dementieva Janette Husárová	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
2003	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
2004	Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	7–5, 6–2
2005	Lisa Raymond (2) Samantha Stosur	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	6–7(5–7), 7–5, 6–4
2006	Lisa Raymond (3) Samantha Stosur (2)	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
2007	Cara Black Liezel Huber	Katarina Srebotnik Ai Sugiyama	5–7, 6–3, [10–8]
2008	Cara Black (2) Liezel Huber (2)	Květa Peschke Rennae Stubbs	6–1, 7–5
2009	Nuria Llagostera Vives María José Martínez Sánchez	Cara Black Liezel Huber	7–6(7–0), 5–7, [10–7]
2010	Gisela Dulko Flavia Pennetta	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	7–5, 6–4
2011	Liezel Huber (3) Lisa Raymond (4)	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	6–4, 6–4
2012	Maria Kirilenko Nadia Petrova	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	6–1, 6–4
2013	Hsieh Su-wei Peng Shuai	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–4, 7–5
2014	Cara Black (3) Sania Mirza	Hsieh Su-wei Peng Shuai	6–1, 6–0
2015	Martina Hingis (3) Sania Mirza (2)	Garbiñe Muguruza Carla Suárez Navarro	6–0, 6–3
2016	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Lucie Šafářová	7–6(7–5), 6–3

Honor roll (2003–2016)

Singles

Player	Result	Appeared	RR W–L	RR W Rate	SF&F W–L	SF&F W Rate	F W–L
Victoria Azarenka	F:11 SF:12 RR:09,10,13	5	07–08	47%	01–02	33%	0–1
Marion Bartoli	RR:07,11(A)	2	02–01	67%
Eugenie Bouchard	RR:14	1	00–03	0%
Jennifer Capriati	SF:03	1	02–01	67%	00–01	0%
Anna Chakvetadze	SF:07	1	02–01	67%	00–01	0%
Dominika Cibulková	W:16	1	01–02	33%	02–00	100%	1–0
Kim Clijsters	W:03,10 SF:06 RR:05	4	08–04	67%	04–01	80%	2–0
Lindsay Davenport	SF:05 RR:04	2	04–02	67%	00–01	0%
Elena Dementieva	SF:08 RR:03-06,09,10	7	05–16	24%	00–01	0%
Sara Errani	RR:12,13	2	02–04	33%
Daniela Hantuchová	RR:07	1	01–02	33%
Simona Halep	F:14, RR:15,16	3	04–05	44%	01–01	50%	0–1
Justine Henin	W:06,07 SF:03	3	07–02	78%	04–01	80%	2–0
Martina Hingis	RR:06	1	01–02	33%
Ana Ivanovic	SF:07 RR:08,14	3	04–04	50%	00–01	0%
Jelena Janković	SF:08,09,13 RR:07,10	5	05–10	33%	00–03	0%
Angelique Kerber	F:16 RR:12,13,15	4	05–07	42%	01–01	50%	0–1
Madison Keys	RR:16	1	01–02	33%
Svetlana Kuznetsova	SF:16 RR:04,06-09	6	05–13	28%	00–01	0%
Petra Kvitová	W:11 F:15 SF:13 RR:12,14	5	07–06	54%	03–02	60%	1–1
Li Na	F:13 RR:11,12	3	05–04	56%	01–01	50%	0–1
Amélie Mauresmo	W:05 F:03,06 SF:04	4	09–03	75%	04–03	57%	1–2
Garbiñe Muguruza	SF:15 RR:16	2	04–02	67%	00–01	0%
Anastasia Myskina	SF:04 RR:03	2	03–03	50%	00–01	0%
Flavia Pennetta	RR:15	1	01–02	33%
Nadia Petrova	RR:05,06,08(A)	3	02–05	29%
Mary Pierce	F:05	1	03–00	100%	01–01	50%	0–1
Karolína Plíšková	RR:16	1	01–02	33%
Agnieszka Radwańska	W:15,SF:12,14,16 RR:08(A),09(A),11,13	8	09–11	45%	02–03	40%	1–0
Chanda Rubin	RR:03	1	01–02	33%
Lucie Šafářová	RR:15	1	01–02	33%
Dinara Safina	RR:08,09	2	00–04	0%
Francesca Schiavone	RR:10	1	01–02	33%
Patty Schnyder	RR:05	1	01–02	33%
Maria Sharapova	W:04 F:07,12 SF:05,06,15 RR:11,14	8	17–06	74%	04–05	44%	1–2
Samantha Stosur	SF:10,11 RR:12(A)	3	04–04	50%	00–02	0%
Ai Sugiyama	RR:03	1	01–02	33%
Serena Williams	W:09,12-14 F:04 RR:07,08	7	14–04	78%	09–01	90%	4–1
Venus Williams	W:08 F:09	2	04–02	67%	03–01	75%	1–1
Caroline Wozniacki	F:10 SF:09,14 RR:11	4	08–04	67%	01–03	25%	0–1
Vera Zvonareva	F:08 SF:10,11 RR:04,09(A)	5	07–06	54%	01–03	25%	0–1

Final appearances by country

Singles

Titles won	Country	Years Won	Runners-up
17	United States	1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 19861, 19862, 1999, 2001, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014	1973, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009
6	Germany	1982, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996	19862, 1995, 2016
5	Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic	1978, 1979, 1981, 1997, 2011	1975, 1980, 1985, 19861, 2015
5	Belgium	2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2010
3	/ Yugoslavia	1990, 1991, 1992
2	Australia	1974, 1976	1972, 1978
2	Argentina	1988, 1994	1987, 1990
2	Switzerland	1998, 2000	1996, 1999
1	France	2005	1997, 2003, 2005, 2006
	Russia	2004	2007, 2008, 2012
	Poland	2015
	Slovakia	2016
0	Belarus		2011
	China		2013
	Denmark		2010
	Great Britain		1977
	Romania		2014
	Spain		1993

1.— March

2.— November

Final appearances by player

Singles

Player	Years won		Runner-up		No. of finals
/ Martina Navratilova	8	1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 19861, 19862	6	1975, 1980, 1982, 1989, 1991, 1992	14
Serena Williams	5	2001, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014	2	2002, 2004	7
Steffi Graf	5	1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996	1	19862	6
Chris Evert	4	1972, 1973, 1975, 1977	4	1974, 1976, 1983, 1984	8
/ Monica Seles	3	1990, 1991, 1992	1	2000	4
Kim Clijsters	3	2002, 2003, 2010	0		3
Gabriela Sabatini	2	1988, 1994	2	1987, 1990	4
Martina Hingis	2	1998, 2000	2	1996, 1999	4
Evonne Goolagong Cawley	2	1974, 1976	1	1978	3
Justine Henin	2	2006, 2007	0		2
Lindsay Davenport	1	1999	3	1994, 1998, 2001	4
Amélie Mauresmo	1	2005	2	2003, 2006	3
Maria Sharapova	1	2004	2	2007, 2012	3
Tracy Austin	1	1980	1	1979	2
Venus Williams	1	2008	1	2009	2
Petra Kvitová	1	2011	1	2015	2
Sylvia Hanika	1	1982	0		1
Jana Novotná	1	1997	0		1
Agnieszka Radwańska	1	2015	0		1
Dominika Cibulková	1	2016	0		1
Mary Pierce	0		2	1997, 2005	2
Kerry Melville Reid	0		1	1972	1
Nancy Richey Gunter	0		1	1973	1
Sue Barker	0		1	1977	1
Andrea Jaeger	0		1	1981	1
Helena Suková	0		1	1985	1
Hana Mandlíková	0		1	19861	1
Pam Shriver	0		1	1988	1
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	0		1	1993	1
Anke Huber	0		1	1995	1
Vera Zvonareva	0		1	2008	1
Caroline Wozniacki	0		1	2010	1
Victoria Azarenka	0		1	2011	1
Li Na	0		1	2013	1
Simona Halep	0		1	2014	1
Angelique Kerber	0		1	2016	1

1.— March

2.— November

See also

• Toyota Championships
• WTA Tour Championships appearances
• ATP World Tour Finals

References

External links

• Official website