Previews: WTA Finals; ATP Basel, Valencia

WTA Finals
Singapore; Surface: hard

Red Group: Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard, Ana Ivanovic

White Group: Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Aggie Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki
ADHEREL
Notes: Play begins Monday…Half the field is new from last year with Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard, Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki not present in 2013, and Halep and Bouchard making their debuts…Serena has won the last two year-end championships, four overall…Ivanovic is 2-11 career against the players in her group…Radwanska is 7-21 career against players in her group…Serena Williams is 11-1 career against players in her group…Serena and Bouchard are the favorites to get out of the Red Group if you go by head-to-heads…Wozniacki could sneak out of the White Group with her solid record against her group mates…Former champs in the field are Serena (2013-12,’09,’01), Kvitova (2011) and Sharapova (2004).

Swiss Indoors Basel
Basel, Switzerland; Surface: hard

Seeds: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stanislas Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov, Ernests Gulbis, David Goffin, Ivo Karlovic

Floaters: Gilles Muller, Lukas Rosol, Dominik Thiem, Steve Johnson

Notes: Stellar field for a 500-level event with the two former No. 1s headlining…Tough starts for (1) Federer vs. the big-serving upset specialist Muller, (8) Karlovic vs. Rosol, (7) Goffin vs. the comer Thiem, and (4) Raonic vs. the solid-returning Johnson…Wildcards went to Swiss Marco Chiudinelli, Croatia’s Borna Coric, and German Alexander Zverev…Pulling from the event were Julien Benneteau, Juan Martin del Potro and Nick Kyrgios…Seeds Raonic and Goffin make their event debuts…The currently-injured del Potro beat Federer in last year’s final, his second Basel title in a row…The five-time champ Federer (2011-10,’08-06) is the lone returning former champ in the field.

Valencia Open 500
Valencia, Spain; Surface: hard

Seeds: David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Andy Murray, Feliciano Lopez, John Isner, Roberto Bautista Agut, Kevin Anderson, Gilles Simon

Floaters: Jurgen Melzer, Tommy Robredo

Notes: Murray and Ferrer continue their tour of following each other around in an attempt to qualify for the year-end championships…Tricky starts for (3) Murray against Melzer and (5) Isner vs. Robredo…This year is the 20th edition of the event…Wildcards were awarded to Berdych, Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta, American teen Stefan Kozlov, and Murray…Withdrawing from the event were Kei Nishikori, Radek Stepanek, Marin Cilic, and Dmitry Tursunov…Returning former champs in the field are Youzhny (2013), Ferrer (2012,’10,’08), Granollers (2011), Murray (2009), and Verdasco (2004).

 

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