WTA Finals championship preview: Venus Williams vs. Caroline Wozniacki

Venus Williams vs. Caroline Wozniacki

Did you have this as your title match when you made your Singapore predictions at the start of the week? Yeah, me neither. But while Williams vs. Wozniacki is a surprise, there’s also something fitting about it being the last top-level match of the 2017 season. The 37-year-old American and the 27-year-old Dane are both veterans and former No. 1s; they both have seemed, at various times over the last three or four years, to be close to calling it quits; and they both have had resurgent years that have brought them back into the Top 10.

But as well as they have played over the past 10 months, they both have struggled to win the big one. Venus lost two Grand Slam finals, in Australia and at Wimbledon, and hasn’t won a tournament all year. Wozniacki has now reached eight finals, but has only cashed in at one of them. On Sunday, though, there can be no doubt: One of them will win a big one, and enjoy a well-earned moment in the spotlight. A title at the WTA Finals would be the most significant for Venus since she won this tournament in 2008; for Wozniacki, it would be the most significant of her career.

So who looks more ready to make it happen? Wozniacki has been the best player in Singapore all week. She says she likes the surface there because it gives her flat groundstrokes a little more oomph, but also allows her to track down balls and use her looping topspin to defend. From her serve on down, she has played some of the most confident and proactive tennis of her career—witness the way she went after the ball even when she was facing six set points in the first set of her semifinal against Karolina Pliskova. Wozniacki didn’t sit back and wait for errors from the Czech, the way she usually does; and she probably won’t against Venus, either.

Whatever Wozniacki does against Williams, though, she’ll have to do something different—and much better—than she has in the past. Venus is 7-0 against her, and has dropped just one set in those seven matches; the only good news for Caro is that she hasn’t had to face her in two years. Venus has controlled their matches with her more powerful serve and return. While Wozniacki’s new aggression could be enough to change that dynamic, Venus has been playing some of her best, most determined tennis this week as well, outhitting Garbiñe Muguruza and outlasting the much-younger Jelena Ostapenko and Caroline Garcia. Once Venus has gotten her teeth into a match, she hasn’t let it go. I can see Wozniacki jumping out to an early lead in this one, only to be methodically slowed down and passed by Venus at the finish line.

Winner: Williams