#1. Angelique Kerber
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The German began the year by reaching the final of the Brisbane International where she lost to Victoria Azarenka. This was followed by her first Grand Slam victory at the Australian Open where she beat reigning champion Serena Williams in the final.
However, this was followed by a string of inconsistent performances as she lost her opening matches at the Qatar Open and at the Indian Wells Masters. However, she rebounded by reaching the semi-finals of the Miami Masters and winning the Stuttgart Open. This was followed by three straight first-round defeats which climaxed in a shock defeat to Kiki Bertens at the French Open.However, Kerber found her game and reached the Wimbledon final where she was beaten by Serena Williams in straight sets. Her good form continued as she reached the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup and bagged the silver medal at the Rio Olympics before reaching the final of the Cincinnati Masters where she was beaten by Karolina Pliskova. Kerber had a brilliant outing at the US Open and prior to the final, was confirmed to be the new World No.1 following the tournament. In a rematch of the Cincinnati final, Kerber beat Pliskova in three sets to win her second Grand Slam of the year and of her career. Just as her Australian Open was followed by a string of poor performances, Kerber struggled for consistency following her US Open triumph and had a poor outing at the Asian Swing where she bowed out in the third rounds of the Wuhan and China Opens and was stunned in the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open by Australian Daria Gavrilova. However, Kerber somehow was able to retain her No.1 ranking and arrives in Singapore having had the best year of her career so far. Kerber has been drawn into the Red Group alongside Simona Halep, Madison Keys, and Dominika Cibulkova. Kerber is undoubtedly the overwhelming favorite to win the Championships but she would have to produce more consistent performances in order to do so.
