By Erik Gudris | Saturday, October 18, 2014
The WTA Finals round robin groups in Singapore were announced with Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova leading the field.
Photo Credit: Getty
Round robin groups were announced on Saturday for the upcoming WTA Finals in Singapore.
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The elite eight-woman year-end championships will make its first appearance in the Southeast Asia city.
World No.1 and two-time defending event champion Serena Williams leads the "Red Group". Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard and Ana Ivanovic join Williams there.
Williams, who has won the event four times, is making her ninth appearance at the event. She has collective head to head record against the entire field of 49-4.
Bouchard and Halep are making their event debuts this year. Ivanovic is returning to the year-end tournament for the first time since 2008.
French Open winner and No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova headlines the "white group". The Russian superstar is accompanied by Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska, and Caroline Wozniacki.
Williams, who suffered a knee injury while competing in Asia, did not withdraw from the event despite earlier speculation that she might. Angelique Kerber and Ekaterina Makarova are the alternates.
Sharapova has an outside chance at ousting Williams from the No. 1 ranking depending on how each performs next week in Singapore.
Williams is defending 1500 points by winning the event last year. Sharapova would have to hope Williams loses early in the round robin while the Russian would seek to advance further than Williams. The earliest each could face each other would be the semifinals.
Sharapova herself posted this behind the scenes photo of the ladies before they took the stage at the draw ceremony.