Singapore was one of the best played heavy weight women’s events this year. This is a great surface for tennis.
2018 has been such a year for the women. Nearly all the P and PM’s finals have been between and won by ralliers. All the slams and the finals have been between and won by ralliers too.
The rivalry is in the women’s game. Everyone keeps expecting and demanding the usual Fed/Nad, Evert/Navratilova kind of rivalry when the rivalry isn’t between two individuals anymore. imo they are missing what the contest actually is, even the WTA imo is missing the opportunity to market it. This is a rivalry between two lineages, two styles of play, tactical rallying vs classic power striking, and that the ralliers are winning. i.e.: Run and gun > gun and gun >>>>>>> run and run.
The women have two pài or Ryū. Roughly speaking :
Serena Halep Kerber Wozniacki Osaka Sloane Svitolina Kasatkina Bertens Suarez (WangQ)
Kvitova Venus Goerges Garcia Keys Ostapenko Giorgi Muguruza Pliskova (Sabalenka) Cibulkova
(I didn’t expect Wang and Sabalenka to make such a great move after September)
WTA have a whole tableful of first class assets to work with for years.
When you have one super number one, you have an apex leader and a strong healthy ecology.
If you have three, you have a wasteland.