Shenzhen Open boasts stunning line-up

The Shenzhen Open will celebrate its sixth anniversary and has promised to deliver an exciting US$750,000 International Series WTA tournament set to be played December 30, 2017 to January 6, 2018.

The tournament has announced that world no.1 Simona Halep will lead the charge. Joining her will be the phenomenal Maria Sharapova as well as the reigning French Open champion and breakout star in women’s tennis for 2017, Jelena Ostapenko. And joining this illustrious trio of stars will be China’s youngest player in the top 50, Wang Qiang.

Through the 2017 season, Halep, who has collected a total of 15 career titles, came close to wresting the world no.1 ranking for the first time on a number of occasions. A winner in Madrid and a finalist at Roland Garros, she finally achieved her lifelong dream at the end of the season when the cards fell her way and she became the first Romanian woman to crowned year-end world no.1. It is a title all tennis players strive for because it means you have reached the pinnacle of your profession.

Simona Halep
(Source: Julian Finney/Getty Images AsiaPac)

The return of Sharapova to the Tour this year provided another level of excitement for the tennis world. The legendary Russian continued to be one of the most talked about women in all sport. Sharapova is a winner of 36 career titles including five majors and she is one of a handful of active players to have played more than 750 matches (768).

At the start of the French Open in May not many knew too much about the Latvian teenager Jelena Ostapenko but as the year’s second major progressed the chatter became louder. She turned 20 during those two weeks in Paris and incredibly, unseeded, she became the French Open champion coming back from a service break down in the final set to defeat Simona Halep. She continued to produce great tennis and qualified for the year-end Championship for the first time and ended the season as world no.7.

Jelena Ostapenka
(Source: Julian Finney/Getty Images AsiaPac)

China’s Wang Qiang enjoyed the best year of her career and reached a career high year-end ranking of 45. Through 2017 the 25-year-old from Tianjin, won Zhengzhou made the semis in Hong Kong and besides the Shenzhen Open also made the quarters in Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and Dubai.

The Shenzhen Open continues to be the richest International Series tournament on the WTA Tour. The 2018 singles champion will earn US$163,260 while the finalist will collect US$81,251.

Similarly to the 2017 event, every single match will be filmed for broadcast – this continues to be a massive boost to the global broadcast footprint of the tournament. Live stream of the tournament will also be available online. While you're enjoying live streaming tennis matches online, feel free to also play instant casino games at Euro Palace.

The final days of the tournament will again be broadcast on CCTV 5 in China along with Guangdong TV. It is estimated that the global broadcast reach of the event will exceed 225 million households.

Tickets to see, Simona Halep, Jelena Ostapenko, Maria Sharapova, Wang Qiang and the other stars of the WTA Tour will be on sale through the official website: www.ShenzhenOpenTennis.com

WTA Finals: Caroline Wozniacki advances to semis after thrashing world no. 1 Simona Halep

Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images AsiaPac

Caroline Wozniacki thrashed world no.1 Simona Halep 6-0, 6-2 to reach the WTA Finals last four in Singapore.

The Dane, who beat Elina Svitolina in her first match, broke Halep's serve five times in a victory that secured progress from Red Group.

The 27-year-old, a former world number one, took the first set in 24 minutes against Halep, making only two unforced errors. Overall, Halep committed 17 unforced errors throughout the match, compared to just seven from Wozniacki. If you are following the betting odds for WTA Finals, keep an eye on the players' performance in Singapore during this period.

Wozniacki, now ranked no. 6 in the world said, "I didn't expect to be leading by this much, so I was asking myself, 'What's happening, am I really playing that well?'.

Source: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images AsiaPac

"I just tried to stay positive, stayed aggressive, take the ball early and go for my shots."

Wozniacki is one of five players who could finish the year as world number one by winning the tournament.

Meanwhile, Caroline Garcia won the last four games to beat Svitolina 6-7 (9-7) 6-3 7-5 in the other Red Group's match.

The result means any one of Halep, Garcia or Svitolina could join Wozniacki in the semifinals depending on the results of Friday's last robin-round matches.

Karolina Pliskova has already qualified from the White Group, with Garbine Muguruza and Venus Williams playing for the second qualifying spot on Thursday.

2015 Final Rankings - Women

In a world where Serena Williams is head and shoulders above the competition, it’s not a question of which tennis player is going to finish first in the WTA rankings at the end of the year, it’s which player will be second.

Serena defeats the competition as easily as Jack Hammer outsmarts the desperate Evil Dr. Wüten in the classic online slot game by NetEnt casinos. In fact, this and other slot games you can play on your mobile are both an entertaining way to pass the time, but also give you an insight into how Serena feels when she sends her opponents packing.

1. Serena Williams

This is the third year in a row that Serena is number one on the WTA rankings. She was off to a flying start at the beginning of the season and defeated Sharapova at the Australian Open. This was Sharapova’s 16^th consecutive defeat at the hands of the American, and she is surely having nightmares just at the thought of Serena.

Williams then went on to announce that she is going to stop the boycott towards the Indian Wells Masters tournament, which has been going on for 14 years before that.  She got to the semis there, but had to forfeit the match due to problems with her knee.

At the Miami Open she won her eighth title there, and managed to take her winning run to 21 consecutive matches without a loss. The Miami title was followed by the French Open one, and the French Open one was followed by the Wimbledon title. In doing so, Serena completed the ‘Serena Slam,’ meaning that she won all 4 majors in a row. That was the second time she had achieved to do that.

However, she didn’t succeed in winning the ‘Grand Slam’. At the US Open she reached the semi-final and had to face Roberta Vinci, who was a huge underdog before the match. During the match though, Vinci outplayed the American and recorded one of the biggest surprises in 2015.

2. Simona Halep

Halep had a great 2014, and this year she has kept the same level of performance. At the Australian Open she managed to reach the quarter-final round where she suffered a surprise defeat by the tenth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova.

At the Indian Wells Masters, Halep capitalized on Serena Williams’ injury and withdrawal in the semi-final, and progressed to the final where she defeated Jelena Jankovic 2-1 in the most important match of her career and her highest point of the season.

Her lowest point of the season however, was her first round elimination at Wimbledon at the hands of Jana Cepelova. She did manage to recover from that defeat though, and reached the semis at the US Open later in the season.

3. Garbine Muguruza

The Spanish, slash, Venezuelan tennis player should no longer be considered as a star in rising. She has already risen and is currently number 3 at the WTA rankings. She’s still only 22 and has the tennis world at her feet.

The undoubted highlight of this season for her was her participation in the Wimbledon final. There, she sent several high profile players home early. Kerber, Wozniacki, Bacsinszky and Radwańska were all dispatched with style by the talented youngster on her way to the final and the match-up with Serena Williams. She lost in straight sets, but her road to the final was enough for her to get in the Top 10 for the first time in her career.

4. Maria Sharapova

What is so remarkable about Sharapova’s season is that even though she missed four months of competitive matches, she still managed to finish 4^th at the end of the year. Basically, had she stayed fit until the end of the season she could have claimed 2^nd place in the WTA rankings.

At the start of the season she reached the final at the Australian Open, where she expectedly lost to Serena. Regardless of the loss though, the year ahead looked promising for the Russian. However, a poor run of form, and several injuries, resulted in a less than impressive year for Sharapova, who is now 5^th in the rankings, behind Agnieszka Radwanska.

5. Agnieszka Radwanska

The Pole didn’t start the season impressively and had to part ways with her coach Martina Navratilova. Radwanska’s first title of the season was at the 2015 Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, and it was won in late September. If there was ever a strong finish to the season, this was it.

Before that, she managed to return to the Top 10 in the rankings by reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon. It was her third appearance in four years. Unfortunately for her though, she was eliminated by the talented Garbine Muguruza in three sets.

However, her biggest achievement of the season and her career in general, was when she defeated Petra Kvitova and won her first WTA Finals title in Singapore. Because of the strong finish to the season, and defying the odds Radwanska finished as number 5 at the rankings last year.

Simona Halep to have boob surgery

This is not a photoshopped image...

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, 17, who won the junior 2008 French Open, has announced that she will have a breast reduction later this year.

Halep says her voluptuous 34DD bust are hindering her game and that she'd like to carry less weight on the tennis court.

“The breasts make me uncomfortable when I play. It's the weight that troubles me - my ability to react quickly," Halep said.

She’s been tipped as one of the tennis stars of the future after winning a host of junior titles and a place in the final of the junior French Open last year but says the weight of her breasts slow her down and could cost her vital points.

(Via mirror.co.uk)