The final WTA match of the 2018 season will be played on Sunday as we get down to the last two players in the WTA Finals in Singapore.
I think 2019 has been set up nicely by the performances of the players over the last week which suggests the titles are going to be keenly contested with very little between the best players. Of course Simona Halep and Serena Williams will feel they have something to say about that when they return to the Tour, but I do think there is room at the top of women's tennis for someone to take control.
This year we have had four different Grand Slam winners, but out of those I would think Halep and Naomi Osaka are most likely to add to the majors they won in 2018. Caroline Wozniacki is going to find it tough if her body lets her down, while Angelique Kerber has been inconsistent despite winning Wimbledon.
The name I would say to watch out for? Aryna Sabalenka.
She could easily become the best player to have come out of Belarus and her form at the back end of 2018 suggests she is ready to take the next step in her career. I will be interested to see what kind of price Sabalenka will be to win the Australian Open when that rolls around in January.
The ATP Tour is still a couple of weeks away from being concluded and the final Masters of the season is going to be played in Paris next week.
Before that the two Finals in Vienna and Basel will be completed on Sunday to put another week into the books.
Sloane Stephens - 1.5 games v Elina Svitolina: She lost the first eight games played in her Semi Final against Karolina Pliskova, but Sloane Stephens showed immense character to come back and then comfortably progress to the Final of the WTA Finals in her debut appearance in Singapore.
She goes into the Final as the favourite to get the better of Elina Svitolina who booked her place in the last match of the 2018 season by beating Kiki Bertens over three long sets. That means Svitolina has been involved in the two longest matches of the tournament and those have been played in her last two matches.
You have to factor that into the Final even if there is no doubting the Svitolina fitness. She is going to have to work long and hard again in the Final if she is going to get the better of Stephens and it has to be said that the Ukrainian has had to grit her teeth and really show the power of her determination to get to the Final.
Where Stephens has been mainly dominant this week, Svitolina has won three tight matches in her four wins and I have to think that will have sapped something both physically and emotionally.
The mental side of the match is always tough to get a read on, but Svitolina has regularly faltered in her really big moments on the Tour as the pressure tends to get the better of her. So far this week that hasn't come out, but I would not have fancied her chances of beating Bertens in the Semi Final if Svitolina had been broken in the third set serving at 5-4 and facing two break points.
It is the American who has won two of the previous three matches between these players including in Montreal back in August. Matches between these two have been competitive and both Stephens and Svitolina have been stronger on the return than on the serve, but I like Stephens in the Final with her superior performances in Singapore this week.
I think this will be a fun match, but I will look for Stephens to edge past Svitolina and cover this number too.
MY PICKS: Sloane Stephens - 1.5 Games @ 1.91 Bet Fred (2 Units)
WTA Finals Update: 15-10, + 9.96 Units (50 Units Staked, + 19.92% Yield)
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