The WTA Finals—the season-ending championship of women's tennis—begins on Monday, October 20 in Singapore. Throughout eight days, we'll take a closer look at the seasons put forth so far by the eight singles competitors.

Maria Sharapova got off to a relatively slow start this season. She was upset by Dominika Cibulkova (the eventual losing finalist) at the Australian Open and beaten at the two big hard-court combined events in the U.S. But she dialed in her game again on clay, winning at Madrid and then adding a fifth Grand Slam and second French Open title to her CV.

Then, after Angelique Kerber beat Sharapova in the fourth round at Wimbledon, her season began to fizzle. A player who picks her spots the way Sharapova needs to go deep in the draw on a regular basis, which Sharapova failed to do for the rest of the year. Until she won Beijing earlier this month, her best result after Roland Garros was a semifinal showing in Cincinnati.

The French Open was particularly demanding; Sharapova had to be overjoyed to survive the surprises.

That loss to No. 61 Timea Bacsinszky in China was awful, but nobody ever confused Wuhan with Wimbledon, where Sharapova—with plenty of daylight opening up in the draw—lost to so-so grass court player Kerber.

Sharapova is 27 years old now; a full decade has passed since she unexpectedly won Wimbledon. Her legacy has been one of surprising inconsistency, somewhat alleviated by her struggle with a damaged and surgically repaired right shoulder. Sharapova is still relatively young, and she can start adding those needed, additional titles to her record at Singapore.

WTA Finals Previews

Sunday, October 12: Agnieszka Radwanska
Monday, October 13: Ana Ivanovic
Tuesday, October 14: Caroline Wozniacki
Wednesday, October 15: Eugenie Bouchard
Thursday, October 16: Maria Sharapova
Friday, October 17: Petra Kvitova
Saturday, October 18: Serena Williams
Sunday, October 19: Simona Halep