Williams returns, Halep eyes at WTA Finals

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The round-robin event WTA Finals will feature the world's top eight players including world number one Simona Halep and veteran Venus Williams.

Venus Williams returns to the year-end event for the first time since 2009 and will face Karolina Pliskova on Sunday.

The 37-year-old Williams is the third-oldest player to qualify for the finals. Billie Jean King was 39 in 1983, and Martina Navratilova was 38 in 1994.

The fifth-ranked Williams reached two Grand Slam finals this season. She lost to her sister Serena at the Australian Open and Garbine Muguruza in the final at Wimbledon.

Venus Williams of the United States returns a shot from compatriot Sloane Stephens during the semifinals of the US Open tennis tournament in New York, September 7, 2017. /AP Photo‍

Williams won the 2008 WTA Finals by defeating Vera Zvonareva of Russia. Since her first full season on the WTA Tour in 1995, Williams says she's seen improvement in the sport.

"The competition is so much greater," said the seven-time Grand Slam winner in singles. "It's a beautiful change, in fact."

Simona Halep is still coming to terms with her rise to the top of the world rankings at the start of the month but is trying not to let the euphoria of the achievement distract her.

Halep became the first Romanian to reach the summit of the women's rankings when she beat French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the semi-finals of the China Open in Beijing, a feat she feels the high point of her career to date.

Halep is planning a major celebration of her ascent to top the rankings at the end of the season, but she remains aware that six of the other seven women at the WTA Finals could usurp her as world number one.

Romania's Simona Halep in action against Daria Kasatkina of Russia at the China Open in Beijing, October 6, 2017. /Reuters Photo

"I think for everyone here, the most important thing is to finish the year as number one, but it is not going to be easy. Here everyone is going to play the best tennis, and every match is going to be like a final, as I said many times," said Halep, who has won 15 WTA tournaments since her breakthrough year in 2013.

After the win over Ostapenko, Halep was beaten in the Beijing final by Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, and the Romanian will have a little bit of revenge in mind when the duo opens Red Group round-robin play with a showdown on Monday.

Simona Halep and Caroline Garcia are joined by Elina Svitolina, Caroline Wozniacki in the Red Group, while Venus Williams, Garbine Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova, and Jelena Ostapenko are in the White Group.

4481km

Source(s): AP ,Reuters