Cibulkova stuns Kerber to take title — WTA Finals

And why should she? At least for now. When she surprised herself by making the quarterfinals, she nearly postponed her nuptials, but a rare welcome defeat saw her make it to the church on time to tie the knot.

But those great things will have to wait, at least for now.

“I think she played well”.

“This is something very important for me, because as you can see, on the court I put a lot of emotions, and emotions just affect me”, she told reporters after her win. The left-hander also joined Serena Williams (2013, 2015) as just the second woman to earn US$10 million in prizemoney in one season.

“Of course I believe much more in my game and in myself than 12 months ago, especially after Singapore one year ago”. “It’s something I need to work on”.

“This is obviously my first experience in a setting like this”.

“It was such a great match and a real pleasure to play in”, Vesnina said.

“Overall, it’s an unbelievable experience to be here”, she told reporters in Singapore. “I feel relieved. It seems like I’m playing my best tennis under biggest pressure”. Kerber is finishing the season on a strong note and is now in her eighth final appearance of the season.

The world number eight started the second set as she had the first but Halep stood firm and recovered an early break to prevent her opponent from running away with the match.

“I like to play tournaments and I really enjoy playing a lot”. “That was a big goal of mine”. At the end of the 2-hour 27 minute encounter the 5 ft 3′ pro, who came back from 2-4 in the deciding set, stood taller for the effort.

“It was only on the first match point, first two match points that I realised what the situation was but after that I just had one goal”.

If Keys needs some fresh inspiration, she needs to look no further than Kerber.

Cibulkova had lost to Kerber in the first match of the tournament in a grueling three-set encounter but turned the tables in a dramatic manner to pull off the upset. However, more titles for the German will have to wait until 2017.

Kerber had previously beaten Cibulkova in their first round robin match. Kerber went 3-0 in the round-robin. I was short in some shots, and in the end I think she just was aggressive and I was not.

Needing a straight-sets win to stay in the hunt after two losses in the Red Group, the gutsy Slovak got off to a sizzling start against Halep, powering past the Romanian to clinch a 6-3 victory.

“I am moving a little bit better right now”. People aren’t winning Slams at 21 anymore.