page_title: 2016 WTA Finals
section_title: Singles
hierarchical_section_title: 2016 WTA Finals / Qualified players / Singles
caption_attribution_description: BNP Paribas Open 2016
context_page_description: The 2016 WTA Finals was a women's tennis tournament at Kallang, Singapore. It was the 46th edition of the singles event and the 41st edition of the doubles competition. The tournament was contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams.
context_section_description: On 22 August, Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber became the first two qualifiers.
  Angelique Kerber started her season in Brisbane, where she lost to Victoria Azarenka in the final. At the Australian Open, Kerber was down match point to Misaki Doi in the first round but came back to win the match. Having previously never been past the fourth round in Melbourne, Kerber cruised past her next three opponents before avenging her Brisbane loss to Azarenka in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Kerber beat surprise semifinalist Johanna Konta in straight sets to reach her first ever Grand Slam final. In the final she stunned Serena Williams to win her maiden Grand Slam  title.
  Kerber struggled for consistency after this triumph; she endured a three-match losing streak, but seemed to turn things around by reaching the semifinals at Miami and defending her title in Stuttgart. However, after this she again lost three straight matches, culminating in a disappointing loss to Kiki Bertens in the first round of the French Open. However, Kerber rediscovered her form on the grass by reaching the Wimbledon final without dropping a set, beating Simona Halep and Venus Williams along the way. There she lost in straight sets to Williams.
  Kerber had a successful summer hard-court swing which saw her reach the semifinals at Montreal, win a silver medal at the Olympics, and reach the final at Cincinnati. At the US Open, despite facing pressure to overtake Williams for the #1 player in the world, Kerber reached the semifinals without dropping a set. When Karolína Plíšková beat Williams in the semifinals, Kerber was guaranteed to become the World No. 1 after the tournament. She consolidated her new position by beating Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals and Plíšková in a three-set final.
  Kerber suffered inconsistent results throughout the Asian swing as she tried to adjust to the pressure of being the No. 1 player in the world, however, she heads into Singapore after the best year in her career by far.
  Serena Williams started her year by reaching the finals of the Australian Open. After handily defeating Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwańska to reach the final, Williams was the heavy favorite to defeat first-time finalist Angelique Kerber, but the German produced an inspired performance to deny Williams her record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title. After taking some time off, Williams returned at Indian Wells, where she lost in the final to Victoria Azarenka. This was the first time since 2004 that Williams had lost two consecutive finals. In Miami, Williams crashed out in the fourth round to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
  Williams won the title in Rome, defeating Madison Keys in the final. She reached her second consecutive Grand Slam final at the French Open, but lost in straight sets to Garbiñe Muguruza. Williams rebounded by winning Wimbledon and avenging her defeat to Kerber in the final. This was her 22nd Grand Slam singles title and tied her with Steffi Graf for the most in the  Open Era.
  After a shoulder injury forced her out of Montreal, Williams slumped to a straight-sets defeat at the hands of Elina Svitolina at the Olympics. At the US Open, Williams lost to Karolína Plíšková, guaranteeing that she would relinquish the #1 ranking to Kerber. Williams withdrew from Wuhan and Beijing due to her shoulder injury, and on 17 October she announced that this same injury would rule her out of the WTA Finals.
  On 29 September, Simona Halep became the third qualifier.
  Simona Halep started her 2016 season in poor form. She was upset in the semifinals of Sydney by Svetlana Kuznetsova and then lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Zhang Shuai, who had never before won a Grand Slam main draw match and was planning to retire after the tournament.
  Halep attributed her struggles to trouble breathing, and she announced a one-month hiatus to undergo surgery on her nose. However, without announcement Halep chose to play Fed Cup for Romania (winning one of two matches), and entered in Dubai and Doha (losing her first match at both events). After a hitting s
caption: Dominika Cibulková reached six WTA finals.
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