Serena Williams secured the end-of-year world No 1 ranking without hitting a ball and Saturday meets Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals in Singapore.
Only Maria Sharapova could keep Williams from her fourth year-ending No 1 ranking, but the Russian needed to win in straight sets over Agnieszka Radwanska. Sharapova dropped the second set in a tiebreaker.
In Wozniacki, Williams will face the hottest player at the tournament. The Dane defeated Sharapova and Radwanska and ensured she won the White Group by rolling over Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-3 yesterday.
“I believe in myself and I believe in my skills. I’ve been playing well, so I believed I could beat anyone,” Wozniacki said. “I obviously also knew that if I wasn’t playing up to my best I could lose to all of them.
“So I’m really pleased about the way this week has gone so far. I played really well. This was a really great match for me.”
Wozniacki has enjoyed a resurgence in form in the second half of the season following poor displays in the first two grand slam tournaments, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon and her second US Open final last month, which she lost to Williams.
She won the Istanbul Cup in July and reached the final of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last month to all but confirm her place in the elite eight-woman WTA Finals being held in Singapore for the first time.
“It’s been a really good six months. I’ve been playing really well and doing great results and things are going well,” she said. “So I’m happy and in a good place.
“Being here was always the goal from the start of the season. As I said before, I always believe in myself. Even though I had a little bit of a slow start to the season, I always believe.”
That self-belief has helped her cruise into the semi-finals but Wozniacki is refusing to look beyond her match against Williams, who owns a 9-1 head-to-head record against her, or even consider lifting the title on Sunday.
“But it’s a new tournament. It’s a new week. I’ve been playing well really. Again, I believe that if I play like I did today, doesn’t matter who’s on the other side. I can win,” the Dane said.
“I have two things in mind right now: one is my next match, and two the (New York City) marathon that’s getting closer and I’m getting a little nervous about.
“So those are the two things in my head. I’m not really thinking about a trophy yet. There is still quite a long way to go.”
Simona Halep, Ana Ivanovic and Williams finished with 2-1 records, with Ivanovic missing the semi-finals in a tiebreaker. Halep will meet Radwanska in the other semi-final today.
Radwanska would not have advanced without a Wozniacki victory over Kvitova later in the day.
“We talked,” Radwanska said.
“When I saw her, she was already, ‘I know, I know’. She knew what was going on. She wasn’t surprised.
“I think we are just going to go shopping, but with my credit card.”
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