Top eight women's singles stars will battle for the year-ending number one spot as they feature in the WTA Finals 2017, scheduled between October 22 and 29 at the hard courts of Singapore Indoor Stadium.
In the absence of Serena Williams, who won the Australian Open this year before taking a break due to childbirth, there are no firm favourites in the upcoming tennis tournament.
The eight players have been drawn into two groups -- Red and White. World number one Simona Halep will headline the Red Group, which also has Caroline Garcia, Caroline Wozniacki and Elina Svitolina. Meanwhile, reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza will headline the White Group, which also will feature Venus Williams Karolina Pliskova and Jelena Ostapenko.
Players list
| Red Group | White Group |
| 1. Simona Halep | 2. Garbine Muguruza |
| 4. Elina Svitolina | 3. Karolina Pliska |
| 6. Caroline Wozniacki | 5. Venus Williams |
| 8. Caroline Garcia | 7. Jelena Ostapenko |
Tournament format
Each player will be involved in a single-legged round-robin group stages, involving groupmates. The top two players at the end of the group stage will progress to the semi-final, in which the winner of one group plays the runner-up of the other group.
In case, two players are on the same number of points at the end of the group stages, the semi-finalist will be decided based on the following rules.
- The head-to-head result will be taken if only two players are tied on points.
- If three are tied on points, then the percentage of sets won will come into play.
- No of games won will also be taken into consideration if players cannot be separated based on the first two rules.
The elite eight pose for a selfie during the draw ceremony of WTA Finals 2017 on Friday, October 20Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for WTA
How the elite eight have fared in 2017
Simona Halep: Won the clay court title in Madrid. French Open runner-up, Wimbledon quarter-finalist.
Performance against group mates
- Wozniacki: Win 2-3 Loss (0-1 in 2017)
- Garcia: Win 2-1 Loss (1-0 in 2017)
- Svitolina: Win 1-2 Loss (1-2 in 2017)
Elina Svitolina: Won titles at Dubai, Istanbul, Rome, Toronto and Taipei
Performance against group mates
- Halep: Win 2-1 Loss (2-1 in 2017)
- Wozniacki: Win 3-0 Loss (2-0 in 2017)
- Garcia: Win 1-Loss 1 (0-1 in 2017)
Caroline Wozniacki: Won title at Tokyo
Performance against group mates
- Halep: Win 3-2 Loss (1-0 in 2017)
- Svitolina: Win 0-3 Loss (0-2 in 2017)
- Garcia: Win 2-0 Loss (0-0 in 2017)
Garbine Muguruza: Won the Wimbledon and Cincinnati titles
Performance against group mates
- Williams: Win 2-3 Loss (2-0 in 2017)
- Pliskova: Win 2-6 Loss (1-2 in 2017)
- Ostapenko: Win 2-1 Loss (1-1 in 2017)
Venus Williams: Hasn't won a title this year, but is the only player to have reached two major finals this season (Australian Open, Wimbledon)
Performance against groupmates
- Muguruza: Win 3-2 Loss (0-2 in 2017)
- Pliskova: Win 1-1 Loss (0-2 in 2017)
- Ostapenko Win 1-0 Loss (1-0 in 2017)
Karolina Pliskova: Won titles at Brisbane, Doha and Eastbourne
Performance against group mates
- Williams: Win 1-1 Loss (0-0 in 2017)
- Ostapenko: Win 2-0 Loss (1-0 in 2017)
- Muguruza: Win 6-2 Loss (2-1 in 2017)
Jelena Ostapenko: 20-year-old won French Open, Seoul titles
Performance against groupmates
- Williams: Win 0-1 Loss (0-1 in 2017)
- Pliskova: Win 0-2 Loss (0-1 in 2017)
- Muguruza: Win 1-2 Loss (1-1 in 2017)
Full schedule [ Order of play of first three days]
Sunday, October 22
- Venus Williams vs Karolina Pliskova: 9 am GMT, 2:30 pm IST
- Garbine Muguruza vs Jelena Ostapenko: 11:30 am GMT, 5 pm IST
Monday, October 23
- Simona Halep vs Caroline Garcia: 11:30 am GMT, 5 pm IST
- Elina Svitolina vs Caroline Wozniacki: Not before 12:30 pm GMT, 6 pm IST
Monday, October 23
- Simona Halep vs Caroline Garcia: 11:30 am GMT, 5 pm IST
- Elina Svitolina vs Carolina Wozniacki - Not before 12:30 pm GMT, 6 pm IST
Live streaming and TV schedule
Global live streaming: WTA TV
India: No telecast
UK: TV: BT Sport 2. Live streaming: BT Sport Online
US: TV: ESPN 2. Live streaming: Watch ESPN
