2019 WTA Finals

The 2019 WTA Finals, also known by its sponsored name Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen, was a women's tennis tournament held in Shenzhen, China. It was the 49th edition of the singles event and the 44th edition of the doubles competition. The tournament was contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams. This was the first time Shenzhen held the WTA Finals.

Champions

Singles

Ashleigh Barty def. Elina Svitolina 6–4, 6–3

Doubles

Tímea Babos / Kristina Mladenovic def. Hsieh Su-wei / Barbora Strýcová, 6–1, 6–3

Tournament The 2019 WTA Finals took place at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center the week of October 28, 2019, and is the 49th edition of the event. This was the first time Shenzhen hosted the event. The tournament is run by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) as part of the 2019 WTA Tour. Shenzhen is the tenth city to host the WTA Finals since the tournament's inauguration in 1972.

Qualifying In the singles, point totals are calculated by combining point totals from sixteen tournaments. Of these sixteen tournaments, a player's results from the four Grand Slam events, the four Premier Mandatory tournaments, and (for the top 20 players at the end of 2018) the best results from two Premier 5 tournaments must be included. In the doubles, point totals are calculated by any combination of eleven tournaments throughout the year. Unlike in the singles, this combination does not need to include results from the Grand Slam or Premier-level tournaments.

Format Both the singles and doubles events feature eight players/teams in a round robin event, split into two groups of four. Over the first four days of competition, each player/team meets the other three players/teams in her group, with the top two in each group advancing to the semifinals. The first-placed player/team in one group meets the second-placed player/team in the other group, and vice versa. The winners of each semifinal meet in the championship match. The doubles event returns to the round robin format for the first time since 2015.

Round robin tie-breaking methods The final standings are made using these methods:

Greatest number of [match] wins. Greatest number of matches played. Head-to-head results if only two players are tied, or if three players are tied then:

a. If three players each have the same number of wins, a player having played fewer than all three matches is automatically eliminated and the player advancing to the single elimination competition is the winner of the match-up of the two remaining tied players. b. Highest percentage of sets won. c. Highest percentage of games won.

Prize money and points The total prize money for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals 2019 is US$14,000,000. The tables below are based on the updated draw sheet information.

SinglesStagePrize moneyPointsChampion RR1 + $3,505,000 SF + 750Runner-up RR + $1,180,000 SF + 330 Semifinalist RR + $80,000 RR Round robin win per match +$305,000 250 Round robin loss per match 125Participation Fee3 matches = $305,0002 matches = $265,0001 match = $220,000 Alternates2 matches = $210,0001 match = $165,0000 matches = $125,000

DoublesStagePrize moneyPointsChampion RR1 + $700,000 SF + 750Runner-up RR + $225,000 SF + 330 Semifinalist RR + $15,000 RR Round robin win per match +$50,000 250 Round robin loss per match 125Participation Fee3 matches = $150,0002 matches = $130,0001 match = $110,000 Alternate2 matches = $90,0001 match = $70,0000 matches = $50,000

Qualified players

Singles #PlayersPointsTournDate Qualified1 Ashleigh Barty 6,476 14 9 September2 Karolína Plíšková 5,315 18 15 September3 Naomi Osaka 5,246 16 4 October4 Simona Halep 4,962 16 2 October5 Bianca Andreescu 4,942 12 2 October 6 Petra Kvitová 4,401 16 7 October 7 Belinda Bencic 4,120 24 19 October8 Elina Svitolina 3,995 21 14 October

On 9 September, Ashleigh Barty became the first qualifier.

Ashleigh Barty began the year at the Hopman Cup where she teamed up with Matthew Ebden but ended up second in their group thus failing to reach the final. She then competed at the Sydney International, where she reached the final but lost to Petra Kvitová in a third-set tiebreak. She then reached the quarterfinals of a slam for the first time at the Australian Open but lost again to Kvitová in straight sets. She then represented Australia in Fed Cup where they faced the United States in the quarterfinals where they won with Barty winning both her matches. At the Sunshine Double, she reached the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open but lost to Elina Svitolina in three sets. She, however, bounced back by winning her first Premier Mandatory event at the Miami Open defeating Karolína Plíšková in the final in two tight sets. She then continued her good form by giving Australia two wins in the semifinals of the Fed Cup against Belarus. At the clay season, she reached the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open but lost to Simona Halep in two tight sets. At the Italian Open, she suffered a shock loss to Kristina Mladenovic in the third round in two quick sets. Despite the average results during the clay season, Barty was able to capture her first slam title at the French Open, in a battle of maiden grand slam finalists, when she defeated Markéta Vondroušová in the final.

The grass-court season she began with her third title of the year at the Birmingham Classic defeating Julia Görges and in the process also claiming the world No. 1 ranking for the first time, to be the first Australian number 1 in more than 40 years. She came into the Wimbledon Championships as one of the favorites but was upset by Alison Riske in the fourth round. At the US Open Series, she lost her first match at the Rogers Cup to Sofia Kenin but bounced back by reaching the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova. At the US Open, she suffered another fourth-round slam loss, this time to Wang Qiang. At the Asian swing, Barty delivered good results when she reached the semifinals of the Wuhan Open losing to defending and eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka and then reached the final of the China Open losing to Naomi Osaka.

On 15 September, Karolína Plíšková took the second spot.

Karolína Plíšková began the year by winning the Brisbane International defeating Lesia Tsurenko in the final in three sets. At the Australian Open, she saved match points and came back from 1–5 down in the third set in the quarterfinals against Serena Williams but lost to Naomi Osaka in the semifinals in three sets. She represented the Czech Republic in the Fed Cup, where they lost 2–3 to Romania (she won her first match, but lost her second). She then reached the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships but lost to Hsieh Su-wei despite leading 5–1 in the final set and the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open and lost to Belinda Bencic. She reached her second final of the year at the Miami Open losing to Ashleigh Barty in two tight sets. She began her clay-court season at the Stuttgart Open, as the defending champion, but lost in her first match to Victoria Azarenka. She suffered a second-round upset to Kateryna Kozlova at the Madrid Open. She bounced back at the Italian Open when she won the title defeating Johanna Konta in the final. However, at the French Open she fell in the third round to Petra Martić.

She began her grass season at the Birmingham Classic but lost to sister Kristýna in the second round in a third-set tiebreak. She bounced back with a title at the Eastbourne International without dropping more than four games in a set the entire tournament. At the Wimbledon Championships, she was upset by compatriot Karolína Muchová in the fourth round despite serving for the match twice but finally lost a game away from a match tiebreak. At the US Open Series, she reached the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup and the Western & Southern Open losing to Bianca Andreescu and Svetlana Kuznetsova, respectively. She had another poor slam run at the US Open, when she lost to Johanna Konta in the fourth round despite leading their head-to-head 6–1 before the match. She then claimed her fourth title of the year at the Zhengzhou Open defeating Martić in the final. However, the rest of her Asian swing was poor, losing back-to-back in the third round of the Wuhan Open to Yastremska and at the China Open to Jeļena Ostapenko in the first round.

On 2 October, Simona Halep and Bianca Andreescu qualified for the event.

Simona Halep began the year without a full-term coach, losing her opening match of the year at the Sydney International with a loss to Ashleigh Barty. She then reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, losing to Serena Williams in a three-set thriller. Steering Romania towards a shock 3–2 win over powerhouses Czech Republic in Fed Cup, Halep followed up that result by reaching her first final of the year at the Qatar Total Open (where she lost to Elise Mertens), beating Elina Svitolina along the way after coming from 1–4 down in the final set. She then played at the Dubai Tennis Championships, losing in the quarterfinals to Belinda Bencic in three sets. At the BNP Paribas Open, she lost to Markéta Vondroušová in the fourth round. A semifinal appearance at the Miami Open (losing to Karolína Plíšková) soon followed, allowing her to rise to No. 2 in the rankings. In the Fed Cup semifinals, even though she won both of her singles matches, Romania lost to France 2–3.

Her clay-court season started at the Madrid Open, where she reached the final before losing to Kiki Bertens in straight sets. At the Italian Open, she fell to Vondroušová in her opening match. Tipped as the huge favourite at Roland Garros, Halep fell to a shock defeat against talented youngster Amanda Anisimova in the quarterfinals thus ending her title defence. Surprisingly, Halep enjoyed a far more successful grass court season, losing to Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne International before picking up her first title of the year by lifting her second Major title at Wimbledon, beating Serena Williams 6–2, 6–2 in the final. An achilles injury forced Halep to retire in the Rogers Cup quarterfinals against Marie Bouzková, and a tough stretch of results followed as she lost to Madison Keys in the third round of the Western & Southern Open and was shocked by Taylor Townsend in the second round of the US Open. Similar to previous years, she struggled during the Asian swing and was plagued by a back injury which was causing her discomfort. She had to retire in the third round of the Wuhan Open facing Elena Rybakina and lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova in the China Open second round.

Bianca Andreescu began her year at the Auckland Open where she reached her first WTA final as a qualifier but lost to Julia Görges in three sets. She then qualified for the Australian Open before losing to Anastasija Sevastova in the second round. She won her first WTA 125K title at Newport Beach defeating Jessica Pegula. She represented Canada in the Fed Cup, where they defeated the Netherlands 4–0 after two Andreescu wins. She then reached the semifinal of the Mexican Open, losing to Sofia Kenin.