WTA Tour Championships

WTA Tour Championships
2015 WTA Finals
Tournament information
Founded	1972
Location	Singapore (2014 – 2018)
Venue	Singapore Indoor Stadium
Category	Tour Championships[1]
Surface	Hard / Indoors
Draw	8S / 8D (2014 – present)
Prize money	US$7,000,000 (2015)
Website	www.wtafinals.com
Current champions
Women's singles	Agnieszka Radwańska
Women's doubles	Martina Hingis Sania Mirza

The WTA Tour Championships, currently known as the WTA Finals^[2], is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972. Since 2003 there have been eight singles players divided into two round robin groups, and four doubles teams.

The WTA Tour Championships is generally considered to be the fifth most prestigious event on the women's tour after the four Grand Slam tournaments. It also has the largest prize money and ranking points after the Grand Slams.

The most successful player is Martina Navratilova who won 8 singles titles and 12 doubles titles.

History

The championships were held for the first time in October 1972 in Boca Raton, Florida (USA) as a climax event at the end of a series of tournaments sponsored by Virginia Slims, called the Virginia Slims Circuit.^[3] From 1972 to 1974, the event was held in October, before switching to March from 1975 until 1986. The WTA then decided to adopt a January–November playing season, and so the event was switched to being held at the end of each year. As a consequence, there were two championships held in 1986.

The event was held in Los Angeles, California from 1974 to 1976 before moving to Madison Square Garden (MSG) in New York City in 1977. With the exception of a one-year move to Oakland, California in 1978, the Championships remained at MSG until 2000. The event then briefly moved to Munich, Germany in 2001. More recently, it moved back to Los Angeles from 2002 to 2005. The 2006 and 2007 editions were held in Madrid, Spain. Doha, Qatar hosted the 2008–2010 editions before passing the flag to Istanbul, Turkey, which hosted the 2011–2013 editions.^[4] For the right to host the 2014 edition and beyond, 43 cities expressed an interest before a short list comprising Kazan, Russia; Mexico City, Mexico; Singapore; and Tianjin, China was drawn up in late 2012.^[5] Kazan and Mexico City were ruled out in early 2013,^[6] before Singapore was announced in May 2013 as the new host city for five years.^[7][8]

From 1984–1998, the final of the championships was a best-of-five-sets match, making it the only tournament on the women's tour to have had a best-of-five match at any round of the competition. It was the first time since the 1901 U.S. National Championships that the best-of-five format was used in women's matches.^[9] In 1999, the final reverted to being a best-of-three-sets match. From the 2014 edition the doubles draw was increased from four to eight teams.^[8]

The winner of the tournament since 2014 receives the Billie Jean King Trophy.^[10]

Official names

The event has a more than 40 year history of corporate sponsorship with the finals named after the sponsoring company.^[3]

Years	Sponsor	Finals Name	Notes
1972–1978	Virginia Slims	Virginia Slims Championships
1979–1982	Avon	Avon Championships
1983–1994	Virginia Slims	Virginia Slims Championships
1995		WTA Tour Championships	No titular sponsor
1996–2000	Chase	Chase Championships
2001	Sanex	Sanex Championships
2002	The Home Depot	Home Depot Championships
2003	Bank of America	Bank of America WTA Tour Championships
2004		WTA Tour Championships	No titular sponsor
2005–2010	Sony Ericsson	Sony Ericsson Championships
2011–2013	BNP Paribas and Türk Ekonomi Bankası	TEB–BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup	[3]
2014–	BNP Paribas and SCglobal	BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore Presented by SCglobal	[11]

Locations and venues

Years	Town	Venue	Surface	Capacity
1972–1973	Boca Raton		Clay
1974–1976	Los Angeles	Los Angeles Arena	Carpet
1977	New York City	Madison Square Garden	Carpet	18,000
1978	Oakland	Oakland Arena	Carpet
1979–2000	New York City	Madison Square Garden	Carpet	18,000
2001	Munich	Olympiahalle	Hard (i)	12,000
2002–2005	Los Angeles	Staples Center	Hard (i)	17,000
2006–2007	Madrid	Madrid Arena	Hard (i)	10,500
2008–2010	Doha	Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex	Hard	6,911
2011–2013	Istanbul	Sinan Erdem Dome	Hard (i)	16,410
2014–2018	Singapore	Singapore Indoor Stadium	Hard (i)	10,000

List of finals

Singles

•      Held in best-of-five-sets format

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score in final
1972	Chris Evert	Kerry Melville Reid	7–5, 6–4
1973	Chris Evert (2)	Nancy Richey Gunter	6–3, 6–3
1974	Evonne Goolagong Cawley	Chris Evert	6–3, 6–4
1975	Chris Evert (3)	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 6–2
1976	Evonne Goolagong Cawley (2)	Chris Evert	6–3, 5–7, 6–3
1977	Chris Evert (4)	Sue Barker	2–6, 6–1, 6–1
1978	Martina Navratilova	Evonne Goolagong Cawley	7–6^(7–0), 6–4
1979	Martina Navratilova (2)	Tracy Austin	6–3, 3–6, 6–2
1980	Tracy Austin	Martina Navratilova	6–2, 2–6, 6–2
1981	Martina Navratilova (3)	Andrea Jaeger	6–3, 7–6^(7–3)
1982	Sylvia Hanika	Martina Navratilova	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
1983	Martina Navratilova (4)	Chris Evert	6–2, 6–0
1984	Martina Navratilova (5)	Chris Evert	6–3, 7–5, 6–1
1985	Martina Navratilova (6)	Helena Suková	6–3, 7–5, 6–4
1986 (Mar.)	Martina Navratilova (7)	Hana Mandlíková	6–2, 6–0, 3–6, 6–1
1986 (Nov.)	Martina Navratilova (8)	Steffi Graf	7–6^(8–6), 6–3, 6–2
1987	Steffi Graf	Gabriela Sabatini	4–6, 6–4, 6–0, 6–4
1988	Gabriela Sabatini	Pam Shriver	7–5, 6–2, 6–2
1989	Steffi Graf (2)	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 7–5, 2–6, 6–2
1990	Monica Seles	Gabriela Sabatini	6–4, 5–7, 3–6, 6–4, 6–2
1991	Monica Seles (2)	Martina Navratilova	6–4, 3–6, 7–5, 6–0
1992	Monica Seles (3)	Martina Navratilova	7–5, 6–3, 6–1
1993	Steffi Graf (3)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–1, 6–4, 3–6, 6–1
1994	Gabriela Sabatini (2)	Lindsay Davenport	6–3, 6–2, 6–4
1995	Steffi Graf (4)	Anke Huber	6–1, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6, 6–3
1996	Steffi Graf (5)	Martina Hingis	6–3, 4–6, 6–0, 4–6, 6–0
1997	Jana Novotná	Mary Pierce	7–6^(7–4), 6–2, 6–3
1998	Martina Hingis	Lindsay Davenport	7–5, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2
1999	Lindsay Davenport	Martina Hingis	6–4, 6–2
2000	Martina Hingis (2)	Monica Seles	6–7^(5–7), 6–4, 6–4
2001	Serena Williams	Lindsay Davenport	walkover
2002	Kim Clijsters	Serena Williams	7–5, 6–3
2003	Kim Clijsters (2)	Amélie Mauresmo	6–2, 6–0
2004	Maria Sharapova	Serena Williams	4–6, 6–2, 6–4
2005	Amélie Mauresmo	Mary Pierce	5–7, 7–6^(7–3), 6–4
2006	Justine Henin	Amélie Mauresmo	6–4, 6–3
2007	Justine Henin (2)	Maria Sharapova	5–7, 7–5, 6–3
2008	Venus Williams	Vera Zvonareva	6–7^(5–7), 6–0, 6–2
2009	Serena Williams (2)	Venus Williams	6–2, 7–6^(7–4)
2010	Kim Clijsters (3)	Caroline Wozniacki	6–3, 5–7, 6–3
2011	Petra Kvitová	Victoria Azarenka	7–5, 4–6, 6–3
2012	Serena Williams (3)	Maria Sharapova	6–4, 6–3
2013	Serena Williams (4)	Li Na	2–6, 6–3, 6–0
2014	Serena Williams (5)	Simona Halep	6–3, 6–0
2015	Agnieszka Radwańska	Petra Kvitová	6–2, 4–6, 6–3

Doubles

Year	Champion	Runner-up	Score in final
1972	no doubles played
1973	Rosemary Casals Margaret Court	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve	6–2, 6–4
1974	Rosemary Casals (2) Billie Jean King	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve	6–1, 6–7^(2–7), 7–5
1975	Margaret Court (2) Virginia Wade	Rosemary Casals Billie Jean King	6–7^(2–7), 7–6^(7–2), 6–2
1976	Billie Jean King (2) Betty Stöve	Mona Guerrant Ann Kiyomura	6-3, 6-2
1977	Martina Navratilova Betty Stöve (2)	Françoise Dürr Virginia Wade	7–5, 6–3
1978	Billie Jean King (3) Martina Navratilova (2)	Virginia Wade Françoise Dürr	6-4, 6-4
1979	Françoise Dürr Betty Stöve (3)	Sue Barker Ann Kiyomura	7–6, 7–6
1980	Billie Jean King (4) Martina Navratilova (3)	Rosemary Casals Wendy Turnbull	6–3, 4–6, 6–3
1981	Martina Navratilova (4) Pam Shriver	Barbara Potter Sharon Walsh	6–0, 7–6^(8–6)
1982	Martina Navratilova (5) Pam Shriver (2)	Kathy Jordan Anne Smith	6–4, 6–3
1983	Martina Navratilova (6) Pam Shriver (3)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Eva Pfaff	7–5, 6–2
1984	Martina Navratilova (7) Pam Shriver (4)	Jo Durie Ann Kiyomura	6–3, 6–1
1985	Martina Navratilova (8) Pam Shriver (5)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	6–7^(4–7), 6–4, 7–6^(7–5)
1986 (Mar.)	Hana Mandlíková Wendy Turnbull	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	6–4, 6–7^(4–7), 6–3
1986 (Nov.)	Martina Navratilova (9) Pam Shriver (6)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	7–6^(7–1), 6–3
1987	Martina Navratilova (10) Pam Shriver (7)	Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Helena Suková	6–1, 6–1
1988	Martina Navratilova (11) Pam Shriver (8)	Larisa Savchenko Natalia Zvereva	6–3, 6–4
1989	Martina Navratilova (12) Pam Shriver (9)	Larisa Savchenko Natalia Zvereva	6–3, 6–2
1990	Kathy Jordan Elizabeth Smylie	Mercedes Paz Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	7–6^(7–4), 6–4
1991	Martina Navratilova (13) Pam Shriver (10)	Gigi Fernández Jana Novotná	4–6, 7–5, 6–4
1992	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Helena Suková	Jana Novotná Larisa Savchenko Neiland	7–6^(7–4), 6–1
1993	Gigi Fernández Natalia Zvereva	Jana Novotná Larisa Neiland	6–3, 7–5
1994	Gigi Fernández (2) Natasha Zvereva (2)	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–7^(4–7), 6–3
1995	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (2)	Gigi Fernández Natasha Zvereva	6–2, 6–1
1996	Lindsay Davenport Mary Joe Fernández	Jana Novotná Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6–3, 6–2
1997	Lindsay Davenport (2) Jana Novotná (2)	Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat	6–7^(5–7), 6–3, 6–2
1998	Lindsay Davenport (3) Natasha Zvereva (3)	Alexandra Fusai Nathalie Tauziat	6–7^(6–8), 7–5, 6–3
1999	Martina Hingis Anna Kournikova	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Larisa Neiland	6–4, 6–4
2000	Martina Hingis (2) Anna Kournikova (2)	Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf	6–2, 6–3
2001	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	7–5, 3–6, 6–3
2002	Elena Dementieva Janette Husárová	Cara Black Elena Likhovtseva	4–6, 6–4, 6–3
2003	Virginia Ruano Pascual Paola Suárez	Kim Clijsters Ai Sugiyama	6–4, 3–6, 6–3
2004	Nadia Petrova Meghann Shaughnessy	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	7–5, 6–2
2005	Lisa Raymond (2) Samantha Stosur	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	6–7^(5–7), 7–5, 6–4
2006	Lisa Raymond (3) Samantha Stosur (2)	Cara Black Rennae Stubbs	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
2007	Cara Black Liezel Huber	Katarina Srebotnik Ai Sugiyama	5–7, 6–3, [10–8]
2008	Cara Black (2) Liezel Huber (2)	Květa Peschke Rennae Stubbs	6–1, 7–5
2009	Nuria Llagostera Vives María José Martínez Sánchez	Cara Black Liezel Huber	7–6^(7–0), 5–7, [10–7]
2010	Gisela Dulko Flavia Pennetta	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	7–5, 6–4
2011	Liezel Huber (3) Lisa Raymond (4)	Květa Peschke Katarina Srebotnik	6–4, 6–4
2012	Maria Kirilenko Nadia Petrova	Andrea Hlaváčková Lucie Hradecká	6–1, 6–4
2013	Hsieh Su-wei Peng Shuai	Ekaterina Makarova Elena Vesnina	6–4, 7–5
2014	Cara Black (3) Sania Mirza	Hsieh Su-wei Peng Shuai	6–1, 6–0
2015	Martina Hingis (3) Sania Mirza (2)	Garbiñe Muguruza Carla Suárez Navarro	6–0, 6–3

Honor roll (2003–2014)

Singles

W = winner tF = finalist (runner-up) SF = Semi final RR = Round robin (A) = Alternate W-L = win-loss

Player	Result	Appeared	RR W–L	RR W Rate	SF&F W–L	SF&F W Rate	F W–L
Victoria Azarenka	tF:11 SF:12 RR:09,10,13	5	07–08	0.47	01-02	0.33	0-1
Marion Bartoli	RR:07,11(A)	2	02–01	0.67
Eugenie Bouchard	RR:14	1	00–03	0
Jennifer Capriati	SF:03	1	02–01	0.67	00-01	0
Anna Chakvetadze	SF:07	1	02-01	0.67	00-01	0
Kim Clijsters	W:03,10 SF:06 RR:05	4	08–04	0.67	04-01	0.8	2-0
Lindsay Davenport	SF:05 RR:04	2	04-02	0.67	00-01	0
Elena Dementieva	SF:08 RR:03-06,09,10	7	05–16	0.24	00-01	0
Sara Errani	RR:12,13	2	02-04	0.33
Daniela Hantuchová	RR:07	1	01–02	0.33
Simona Halep	tF:14	1	02–01	0.67	01-01	0.5	0-1
Justine Henin	W:06,07 SF:03	3	07-02	0.78	04-01	0.8	2-0
Martina Hingis	RR:06	1	01–02	0.33
Ana Ivanovic	SF:07 RR:08,14	3	04-04	0.5	00-01	0
Jelena Janković	SF:08,09,13 RR:07,10	5	05-10	0.33	00-03	0
Angelique Kerber	RR:12,13	2	01-05	0.17
Svetlana Kuznetsova	RR:04,06-09	5	03–12	0.2
Petra Kvitová	W:11 SF:13 RR:12,14	4	06-04	0.6	02-01	0.67	1-0
Li Na	tF:13 RR:11,12	3	05-04	0.56	01–01	0.50	0–1
Amélie Mauresmo	W:05 F:03,06 SF:04	4	09-03	0.75	04-03	0.57	1-2
Anastasia Myskina	SF:04 RR:03	2	03–03	0.5	00-01	0
Nadia Petrova	RR:05,06,08(A)	3	02-05	0.29
Mary Pierce	tF:05	1	03–00	1	01-01	0.5	0-1
Agnieszka Radwańska	W:15,SF:12,14 RR:08(A),09(A),11,13	7	06-08	0.43	02-02	0.5	1-0
Chanda Rubin	RR:03	1	01–02	0.33
Dinara Safina	RR:08,09	2	00–04	0
Francesca Schiavone	RR:10	1	01–02	0.33
Patty Schnyder	RR:05	1	01-02	0.33
Maria Sharapova	W:04 F:07,12 SF:05,06 RR:11,14	7	14-06	0.7	04-04	0.5	1-2
Samantha Stosur	SF:10,11 RR:12(A)	3	04-04	0.5	00-02	0
Ai Sugiyama	RR:03	1	01-02	0.33
Serena Williams	W:09,12-14 F:04 RR:07,08	7	14-04	0.78	09-01	0.9	4-1
Venus Williams	W:08 F:09	2	04-02	0.67	03-01	0.75	1-1
Caroline Wozniacki	tF:10 SF:09,14 RR:11	4	08-04	0.67	01-03	0.25	0-1
Vera Zvonareva	tF:08 SF:10,11 RR:04,09(A)	5	07-06	0.54	01-03	0.25	0-1

Final appearances by country

Singles

Titles won	Country	Years Won	Runners Up
17	United States	1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986^1, 1986^2, 1999, 2001, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014	1973, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009
6	Germany	1982, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996	1986^2, 1995
5	Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic	1978, 1979, 1981, 1997, 2011	1975, 1980, 1985, 1986^1, 2015
5	Belgium	2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2010
3	/ Yugoslavia	1990, 1991, 1992
2	Australia	1974, 1976	1972, 1978
2	Argentina	1988, 1994	1987, 1990
2	Switzerland	1998, 2000	1996, 1999
1	France	2005	1997, 2003, 2005, 2006
	Russia	2004	2007, 2008, 2012
	Poland	2015
0	Belarus		2011
	China		2013
	Denmark		2010
	Great Britain		1977
	Romania		2014
	Spain		1993

1.— March

2.— November

Final appearances by player

Singles

Player	Years won		Runner-up		No. of finals
/ Martina Navratilova	8	1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986^1, 1986^2	6	1975, 1980, 1982, 1989, 1991, 1992	14
Serena Williams	5	2001, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014	2	2002, 2004	7
Steffi Graf	5	1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996	1	1986^2	6
Chris Evert	4	1972, 1973, 1975, 1977	4	1974, 1976, 1983, 1984	8
/ Monica Seles	3	1990, 1991, 1992	1	2000	4
Kim Clijsters	3	2002, 2003, 2010	0		3
Gabriela Sabatini	2	1988, 1994	2	1987, 1990	4
Martina Hingis	2	1998, 2000	2	1996, 1999	4
Evonne Goolagong Cawley	2	1974, 1976	1	1978	3
Justine Henin	2	2006, 2007	0		2
Lindsay Davenport	1	1999	3	1994, 1998, 2001	4
Amélie Mauresmo	1	2005	2	2003, 2006	3
Maria Sharapova	1	2004	2	2007, 2012	3
Tracy Austin	1	1980	1	1979	2
Venus Williams	1	2008	1	2009	2
Petra Kvitová	1	2011	1	2015	2
Sylvia Hanika	1	1982	0		1
Jana Novotná	1	1997	0		1
Agnieszka Radwańska	1	2015	0		1
Mary Pierce	0		2	1997, 2005	2
Kerry Melville Reid	0		1	1972	1
Nancy Richey Gunter	0		1	1973	1
Sue Barker	0		1	1977	1
Andrea Jaeger	0		1	1981	1
Helena Suková	0		1	1985	1
Hana Mandlíková	0		1	1986^1	1
Pam Shriver	0		1	1988	1
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	0		1	1993	1
Anke Huber	0		1	1995	1
Vera Zvonareva	0		1	2008	1
Caroline Wozniacki	0		1	2010	1
Victoria Azarenka	0		1	2011	1
Li Na	0		1	2013	1
Simona Halep	0		1	2014	1

1.— March

2.— November

See also

• Toyota Championships
• WTA Tour Championships appearances
• ATP World Tour Finals

References

1. "BNP Paribas WTA Finals - Tournament Info". WTA Tour. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
2. "WTA re-launches year-end Championships as WTA Finals" (PDF). www.wtatennis.com. May 27, 2014.
3. "TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup" (PDF). WTA Tour.
4. "2011 Calendar Announced". WTA Tour. 2 July 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
5. "WTA narrows 2014 Championships host field to three finalists" (PDF). www.wtatennis.com. WTA. 29 January 2013.
6. "Three cities still in running to host WTA Championships". www.wtatennis.com. WTA.
7. "WTA picks Singapore to host its tennis Championships from 2014". BBC News. 8 May 2013.
8. http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/3168717
9. "It’s the Way It’s (Almost) Always Been". New York Times. 3 September 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
10. "Billie Jean King Named Official Ambassador of WTA Finals in Singapore" (PDF). www.wtatennis.com. Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). 30 June 2014.
11. "Tennis-BNP Paribas extends WTA Championship sponsorship". Reuters (Singapore). 11 March 2014.

External links

• Official website