page_title: 2013 WTA Tour Championships
section_title: Singles
hierarchical_section_title: 2013 WTA Tour Championships / Qualified players / Singles
caption_attribution_description: Errani RG13 (7)
context_page_description: The 2013 WTA Tour Championships was a tennis tournament at Istanbul, Turkey from 22 to 27 October 2013. It was the 43rd edition of the singles event and the 38th edition of the doubles competition. The tournament, held at the Sinan Erdem Dome, was contested by eight singles players and four doubles teams. It was the larger of two season-ending championships on the 2013 WTA Tour.
context_section_description: On 5 August, Serena Williams became the first player to qualify for the championships.
  Serena Williams started the year with high expectations after finishing the 2012 season strongly. She won the Brisbane International against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with the loss of just 17 games and was the favorite to win the Australian Open. However, she twisted her ankle during her first round match against Edina Gallovits-Hall. Despite advancing to the second week of the tournament, she lost to Sloane Stephens in the quarterfinals. Williams returned to competition at the Qatar Open where she reclaimed the world No. 1 by winning her quarterfinals match. She lost in three sets in the final to Victoria Azarenka. After the loss, Williams went on a 34-match winning streak with titles at the Sony Open Tennis over Maria Sharapova, Family Circle Cup over Jelena Janković, Mutua Madrid Open over Sharapova, Internazionali BNL d'Italia over Azarenka, and her second French Open title defeating defending champion Sharapova in straight sets in the final. She became the fourth woman in the Open era after Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf to win each Grand Slam title twice or more. Her streak ended at the fourth round of Wimbledon losing to Sabine Lisicki but rebounded three weeks later by claiming her first international-level title in Swedish Open defeating Johanna Larsson in two sets. This win marked Williams being undefeated in clay in 2013. Williams started her US Open Series at the Rogers Cup where she won her eight title of the year against Sorana Cîrstea. She reached the final of Western & Southern Open a week later, an achievement that clinched her the first-place position of the 2013 US Open Series, but lost to Azarenka. Williams won her 17th Slam singles title at the US Open where she defeated Azarenka in three sets in the final. At the China Open, Williams won her 10th title over Jelena Janković. This is the first time Williams reached double digits in titles in a single season. Williams went into the 2013 Championships as the defending champion.
  On 24 August, Victoria Azarenka claimed the second singles spot at the Championships.
  Victoria Azarenka started the year as the world No. 1 and played her first tournament in Brisbane where she withdrew before her semifinals match against Serena Williams. She successfully defended her Australian Open crown after defeating Li Na in the final, claiming her second Major. Despite defending her Qatar Total Open title and defeating Williams for the first time since 2009 in the final, Azarenka relinquished her number 1 ranking to Williams. At the BNP Paribas Open, she withdrew before her quarterfinals match against Caroline Wozniacki and missed Sony Open Tennis. She reached the final of Internazionali BNL d'Italia losing to Williams in two sets. She reached the semifinals of the French Open for the first time in her career losing to Maria Sharapova in three sets. At Wimbledon, she withdrew before her second round match against Flavia Pennetta due to a knee injury. She returned to competition at the Southern California Open and lost in the final to Samantha Stosur. She then won her 3rd title at the Western & Southern Open, defeating Williams for the second time in the season. Azarenka reached the final of the US Open where she lost to Williams in three sets. In the Toray Pan Pacific Open and China Open, Azarenka suffered two consecutive losses in her opening matches against Venus Williams and Andrea Petkovic, respectively.
  On 23 September, Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwańska were announced as the third and fourth qualifiers for the Championships.
  Maria Sharapova began her year at the Australian Open as the second seed, dropping a record-low nine games en route to the semifinals, where she lost to Li Na in straight sets. She won her first title of the year at the BNP Paribas Open defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the final. She followed it up with a final appearance at the Sony Open Tennis where she lost to Serena Williams. She began her clay-court season campaign with a successful ti
caption: Sara Errani reached the semifinals of the French Open for the second year in a row.
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