Lights Out!

The question for the WTA as the WTA Finals get underway in its new home of Singapore is:  What could be done to keep the tournament from degenerating into a Singabore?

After all, world No. 1 Serena Williams has dominated this event, winning 26 of the 31 matches she’s played in the season-ending, round-robin shootout. She’s won the title four times and is the two-time defending champion. The next best record going in belonged to Maria Sharapova, at 17-8. She’s won the title once. If you appreciate irony, you may remember that she accomplished that feat with what would be her “most recent” win over Williams—ten years ago, in Los Angeles.

So here we are, no wins and 15 consecutive losses later, with Sharapova still in with a chance to snatch away the prestigious year-end No. 1 ranking—if many things fall her way. And the good news, given her record against Williams, is that she could conceivably win the title and secure the top ranking without actually having to beat Williams.

To have any hope of pulling off the feat, Sharapova would need to at least reach the final with a 2-1 record in the round-robin, or win the tournament outright. Of course, that still would guarantee nothing, because Williams’ fate is in her own hands. After the first round of play, her grip looks pretty powerful, and Sharapova’s looks as shaky as her unreliable second serve.

Williams started her campaign with a neat if challenging 6-4, 6-4 win over Ana Ivanovic, the only player in Singapore who has actually beaten Williams this year. Sharapova kicked hers off today with yet another one of those matches that leave you in admiration of her competitive zeal, but puzzled by her inability to sustain the momentum she works so hard to gain.

Sharapova, the No. 2 seed, lost to the eighth and final seed Caroline Wozniacki, who snuck into these championships just under the wire—and thanks partly to Li Na’s unexpected decision this fall to quit the game cold. The match was a doozy: Three hours and 13 minutes of savage ball striking distinguished by Sharapova’s toughness and courage and Wozniacki’s resilience and endurance. The final score, in favor of Wozniacki, was 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2.

This match begged you to choose if the glass is half-full or half-empty for Sharapova; it’s the kind of match that she has made her specialty, and it may be for a more noble reason than might first appear. Another player might fold more easily on a day when she’s clearly not at her best, but there’s no quit in Sharapova. She fights tooth and nail to the end, and thus she often plays matches that leave you wondering if this is the most exciting match you’ve ever seen—or merely the least artful.

You could put some of Sharapova’s troubles down today to her chronically disobedient serve. She tagged 15 double faults, one of which lost her the first set, and another critical one at 30-15 in the final game. That was because Sharapova had repeatedly found ways to break Wozniacki’s serve just when it looked like the Dane had the match locked up, or at least under control (the pattern was established in the first set and enhanced in the second). After that final-game double fault, Wozniacki wore down Sharapova in a lengthy rally and finally got her to smack an errant forehand. At match point, Wozniacki fired back a shallow second serve, for which she was rewarded with a Sharapova backhand error.

But credit Wozniacki for retaining her composure through wave after wave of Sharapova’s aggressive incursions. She also had to dispel two significant distractions that might have shaped a different outcome.

Leading 7-6, 4-3 (following a break of Sharapova’s serve), Wozniacki lost the first point of the next service game when she lost sight of the ball in lights that had only come on a few moments earlier. There ensued much conversation between Wozniacki, chair umpire Eva Asderaki, and WTA personnel. Ultimately the lights were dimmed and Wozniacki went on to hold for 5-3. Although she would be broken two games later, the hold helped prolong a match in which fitness became a significant issue—one that benefitted Wozniacki, who is in training to run in the upcoming New York City Marathon.

The other distraction had the potential to create a massive controversy overshadowing all other particulars. Later in the set at 5-6, deuce, with Wozniacki serving, Sharapova hit a cross-court forehand that was clearly out (and later confirmed on television Hawk-Eye replay). But there was no call from the linesperson, Asderaki was asleep at the switch, and Wozniacki had no recourse—for she was out of challenges. Wozniacki argued; she yelled and sighed. She smacked the net repeatedly with her racquet, all to no avail.

That non-call gave Sharapova a set point, but Wozniacki kept her wits and won a long rally to get back to deuce, then played two more strong points to complete a hold. She would lose the ensuing tiebreaker, but her survival in that game relegated the potential no-call controversy moot—and it added still more precious, long minutes to the match.

In the third set, Wozniacki was simply the stronger, fitter, more consistent player. She held Sharapova to just one break of serve while she recorded three and won it going away. Sharapova’s 15 double faults undoubtedly hurt, but she did put a decent 59 percent of her first serves into play.

But Wozniacki had a banner day at the service notch, converting nearly three out of every four first serves, 73 percent. Just as telling: Sharapova had more than twice as many unforced errors 76—ouch!—to 35. It helps explain why hitting three times as many winners (43-14) wasn’t enough to get the job done.

The loss stripped Sharapova of at least one cushion she had before the tournament began. By losing a match, Sharapova ensured that Serena could keep the year-end No. 1 ranking even if she loses a round-robin match—but still makes it to the final.

Sharapova’s next opponent will be No. 3 seed Petra Kvitova, who also will have her back against the wall thanks to a loss today to Agnieszka Radwanska. The battle for No. 1 could be over before it can be said to have begun, and perhaps that’s as it should be, given Serena Williams’ proven superiority.