WTA Finals 2019: Order of play for Monday, where to watch, match preview and other details

Day 2 of the WTA Finals 2019 will see the Purple group kick-start their matches against each other at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre in China. Long-time rivals Karolina Pliskova and Elina Svitolina will face each other in the first singles match of the day, while the second match will be played between Bianca Andreescu and Simona Halep.

Karolina Pliskova vs Elina Svitolina head-to-head

Pliskova holds a 5-3 lead over Svitolina in their eight meetings, with the latter winning their last three encounters. Svitolina, who is the defending champion, had defeated Pliskova in their last meeting at the WTA Finals 2018, but the two have not played against each other since.

Interestingly, whenever Svitolina has defeated Pliskova in a tournament, she has gone to win the title.

Having not won a single title this year, Svitolina will want to start her year-end championship campaign with a win. She made it to five semifinals this year, including two Grand Slams, but failed to lift a single WTA tournament trophy.

On the other hand, Pliskova has won four WTA titles, the most by any women's singles player this year.

Svitolina is looking to become the first player since Serena Williams to successfully defend her year-end title. Although title-less in 2019, the Ukrainian has been consistent over the year and managed to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon.

Her ability to crawl back into the game no matter what the situation, and also her skill at keeping the ball in play for long periods of time, will be two things that Pliskova will have to be careful about as the Czech prefers to end the point as soon as she can.

The second match of the day will be between the two Grand Slam champions of 2019, Halep and Andreescu. Halep won the Wimbledon while Andreescu won the US Open.

This will be the first time that the two will be playing against each other.

The 19-year-old Canadian went from 152nd at the start of the year to being ranked fourth as the year came to an end. Her title wins at Indian Wells and the Canadian Open gave her ranking a huge boost, and it shot up even more with her Grand Slam win in New York.

Andreescu's win over Serena Williams in the US Open final made her the first Canadian to win a singles Grand Slam.

While Halep did not win any title apart from the Wimbledon, her experience over Andreescu givers her a small advantage in the first encounter between the two. Andreescu has often mentioned Halep as her idol, and she also shaped some of her game based on how the Romanian plays.

The match between experience and youth will surely be a treat for the eyes.

Earlier on the first day of the tournament, top-seeded Ashleigh Barty won 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 against Belinda Benic while third seeded Naomi Osaka defeated Petra Kvitova 7-6(7-1), 4-6, 6-4.