The final for the 2015 Prudential Hong Kong is all set for Sunday with the number two seed, Angelique Kerber to play the number four seed, Jelena Jankovic in what will be a third match-up between the pair this year. Although the WTA have stated that Kerber needs to win the title in Hong Kong to confirm her place at the WTA Finals in Singapore, some fans on Twitter are stating that she’s there. It also looks like Agnieszka Radwanska is close too as she is into the final of Tianjin where she will play Danka Kovinic.
Kerber secured her place in a fifth final in 2015 with a routine 6-2 6-2 victory over Sam Stosur. It was a rock solid display from the German player who gave away very little. Stosur on the other hand produced errors galore and was unable to consistently threaten Kerber. In a focused and determined display, Kerber broke Stosur’s serve on five occasions and overcame a few sticky moments at the end, eventually winning on her fifth match point. Kerber has had a few issues closing matches during the Asian Swing but on this occasion, she was able to serve it out, saving three break points in the final game.
The second of semi-finals saw a 13th clash between Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic with JJ inching to a 7-6 lead in their head-to-head wth a hard fought, 6-4 7-5 victory. This was a brutal match and ended Venus’s chances of qualifying in the top eight for Singapore. I’m sad for Venus because it would have been an awesome storyline for her to make Singapore but at the same time, it’s hard not to be happy for the ray of sunshine that is Jelena Jankovic. She’s always played Venus well and that showed in this match with her ability to get the American player on the run. The story for Venus was missed break points; Venus was 2 out of 16 on break point conversions. She also made a number of wild errors towards the end. Jankovic couldn’t serve it out at the first time of asking but was not to be denied second time around, serving it out on her first match point.
Kerber leads Jankovic, 4-1 in their head-to-head with her only loss coming in a three setter in Brisbane at the start of 2014… that was a super match with Kerber running out of steam in the final set and Jankovic enjoying somewhat of a resurgence. Kerber’s won their three most recent encounters although their last match did go three sets when they played a few weeks ago in Wuhan. Jankovic’s level has been very solid in Hong Kong and she is yet to drop a set all week. Kerber lost her first set of the tournament to Francesca Schiavone but has been motoring through the draw ever since. This should be a fun match and i’m backing Kerber, the player i’d have more faith in at the crucial moments, to prevail.
Prediction: Kerber d. Jankovic in 3 sets
Moo's Tennis Blog 
Hoping for a repeat of Brisbane 2014! Hoping JJ can do enough to make Zhuhai
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Yay for Angie qualifiying but sad that Ka Pliskova most probably isn’t 😦 😦 I hope that Pennetta and Sarafarova make the two last spots. That would be fair. And Pennetta can leave on a high 🙂
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It’s probably good for Pliskova NOT to go to Singapore, since mentally and physically she isn’t on par with the other women right now. I firmly believe that Bouchards year has been dictated by her losses last year in the finals.
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I agree, I think the two losses to Kerber in Birmingham and Stanford were both detrimental to Pliskova’s confidence. She will get plenty more chances to qualify for the WTA Finals in the future though.
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Yeah you may be right – it’s still sad though. I hope she will rest and then finally make a deep run in a slam next year. I firmly believe she can be a slam champion
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I do too. I predicted her going top eight in 2015 this time last year but the one area I was wrong was with the Slams. I thought her calm demeanor would give her a real edge in the Slams, but she’s gotten surprisingly tight when expected to do well.
Hopefully she goes out with a bang this year and wins the Elite Trophy. Her or Ivanovic 😉
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I hope Lucie makes it but her draw in Moscow is not good 😦 I wanted Venus or Belinda to qualify but it would be nice to have a Slam champion in Singapore and if Flavia is going to retire at the end of this year or soon it would be kind of fitting.
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What is crazy is that both Kerber and Radwanska are playing Moscow. Mistake. They want to be completely burned out or what? They should take a week off to recuperate.
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I assume Kerber and Radwanska both entered (Aga with a late WC) to help with qualifying for Singapore. Since it looks like both players may qualify this weekend, it will be interesting if both play in Moscow… I hope not!
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I think Kerber ultimately wins this, but the one thing I’ve learned in tennis is never bet against JJ or Cibulkova when they are underdogs and don’t bet on them when they are favorites. I have a feeling JJ pushes this to the very end, but Kerber has too much in 3 sets. In the Tianjin final, I think Kovinic could give Aga some problems… that probably sounds crazy since Aga is heavily favored. Kovinic hits the ball really hard and moves pretty well, but is really inconsistent and struggles to find range at times. Aga has been too consistent to lose this, but for some reason I think Kovinic will test her more than anyone else in the tournament. I thought Pliskova looked uninterested and was going to take a nap in 2nd set. Every time I thought she might wake up, Aga had an answer for her. I think Aga wins in two sets with one of them being really tight, perhaps the first one.
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Comfortable for Aga in the end but I do really like Kovinic. I was really impressed with her in Charleston. It’s good to see her having success on hard courts because she had only had five wins on this surface prior to Tianjin with all her success coming on clay.
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Playing second tier tournaments to dog fight for a spot in YEC. This is nothing great for both Kerber and Aga. This year YEC looks extremely cheap. JJ and Kovinic please save tennis to beat them.
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It’s better than not qualifying for Singapore. I do hope Aga withdraws from Moscow and recuperates. Hong Kong had a great draw with excellent players and that’s more important than it being an international event. Tianjin had below average players, but I don’t blame Aga for taking the easier way out, you have to do what you have to do.
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