#3. Simona Halep
The Romanian who had two brilliant seasons in 2014 and 2015, had a very poor start to 2016, as she was beaten in the semi-finals of the Sydney International and was later knocked out in the first round of the Australian Open after losing to Chinese Zhang Shuai who was yet to win a single match in the main draw of a major and was contemplating retirement prior to the tournament. She later took a month-long hiatus from the sport to undergo surgery on her nose.
Halep then came back by reaching the quarterfinals at the Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Masters before winning the Mutua Madrid Open. Halep was then stunned in the fourth round of the French Open by 2010 runner-up and eventual semi-finalist Samantha Stosur.Halep reached the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon despite not being fully prepared for the tournament and later won the Rogers Cup before reaching the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters. Halep then reached the quarter-finals of the US Open where she was beaten by Serena Williams in straight sets.
This was followed by a series of deviating performances as she reached the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open but lost to Zhang Shuai yet again in the third round of the China Open. However, her semi-final appearance at the Wuhan Open was enough to see her through to her third consecutive WTA Finals.
Halep is the third seed at the tournament and has been drawn in the Red Group alongside Angelique Kerber, Madison Keys, and Dominika Cibulkova and if she can be at the top of her game, then she might even go all the way and better her runner-up performance at the 2014 WTA Finals.
