|
 Williams was pooled in the Red Group on Saturday for the WTA's
season ending event alongside Romanian Simona Halep, Canada's
Eugenie Bouchard and Serbia's Ana Ivanovic who have managed only one
career victory among them against the 18-times grand slam singles
champion.
The more competitive looking White Group features Russian Maria
Sharapova, Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, Poland's Agnieszka
Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.
Williams is gunning for her fifth season ending championships win
and third straight, having taken the last two titles in Istanbul.
Her participation in this year's event, which switches to Singapore
for the first of five editions, was in doubt after she was forced to
pull out of the Beijing tournament earlier this month because of a
knee problem.
Bouchard is also a fitness doubt after pulling out of a tournament
in Austria 10 days ago because of a leg problem, while Ivanovic, who
has a 1-7 win-loss record against Williams, also withdrew from Linz
with a hip injury.
Romanian Halep has struggled for form of late and not made it past
the quarter-finals of an event since July. The French Open runner-up
is 0-3 against the American.
Sharapova, who beat world number three Halep in the final at Roland
Garros, has had no such issue with form and was named the WTA's
Player of the Month for September after winning the prestigious
Beijing title, her last action before arriving in Singapore.
There she beat Kvitova in the final, with the Czech just missing out
on back-to-back titles having won the week before in Wuhan.
The two will be favorites to grab the two semi-final berths from the
tricky White Group but will face stiff competition from former world
number one Wozniacki, who has also shown strong form in the tail end
of the season.
[to top of second column]
|
The Dane was runner-up to Williams at the U.S. Open, made the
finals in Tokyo and the semis in Wuhan to book a spot in Singapore.
The action gets underway on Monday at Singapore's revamped indoor
stadium, which forms part of the city-state's new $1 billion Sports
Hub.
Red Group
1-Serena Williams (United States)
4-Simona Halep (Romania)
5-Eugenie Bouchard (Canada)
7-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia)
White Group
2-Maria Sharapova (Russia)
3-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic)
6-Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)
8-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark)
(Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
