12:00 PM ET The WTA Finals, completed Sunday with Ashleigh Barty locking down the coveted year-end No. 1 ranking, was a rich event in more ways than the record prize money. The event in Shenzhen, China, also produced a number of storylines sure to impact the coming year. Let’s look at five of them: Ashleigh
Tennis
Ashleigh Barty is humbled by the constant comparisons to Evonne Goolagong Cawley and says she’d be satisfied to carve out a career half as successful as her mentor and idol. Barty is joining Goolagong Cawley in the tennis record books with seemingly every big win she has and did so again in winning the prestigious
11:05 AM ET Associated Press PARIS — Novak Djokovic beat a nervous Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4 Sunday to win his fifth Paris Masters final and 34th overall Masters title to move one behind all-time leader Rafael Nadal. Shapovalov had a walkover into his first Masters final because the second-ranked Nadal pulled out of their semifinal
9:07 AM ET Associated Press SHENZHEN, China — Ashleigh Barty added to her already stunning year by winning her first WTA Finals title in her maiden appearance at the season-ending event with a 6-4, 6-3 win over defending champion Elina Svitolina of Ukraine on Sunday. The title adds to the 23-year-old Australian’s lengthy list of
12:47 PM ET Associated Press SHENZHEN, China — Top-ranked Ashleigh Barty advanced Saturday to the final of the WTA Finals where she faces defending champion Elina Svitolina, a player she has never beaten in five previous attempts. Barty, like Svitolina, dropped the opening set of her semifinal before beating second-ranked Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic
11:35 AM ET ESPN News Services Rafael Nadal withdrew from his semifinal match at the Paris Masters on Saturday with an abdominal strain, preventing a showdown against rival Novak Djokovic as both players are vying for the year-end No. 1 ranking. Nadal, who could have ensured the year-end No. 1 spot for a fifth time
1:32 PM ET Associated Press PARIS — Top-ranked Novak Djokovic made quick work of seventh-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-1, 6-2 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Paris Masters. Rafael Nadal did the same with a 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory over 2008 champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Nadal and Djokovic are vying for the year-end No. 1
9:38 AM ET Associated Press SHENZHEN, China — Karolina Pliskova advanced to the semifinals of the WTA Finals for the third straight year, beating Simona Halep 6-0, 2-6, 6-4 on Friday shortly after defending champion Elina Svitolina completed a near-perfect group stage. Pliskova benefited from a bit of luck on match point, hitting a forehand
1:35 PM ET Associated Press PARIS — Rafael Nadal beat Stan Wawrinka for the 19th time in 22 meetings, winning 6-4, 6-4 Thursday to reach the Paris Masters quarterfinals. The two players share 22 Grand Slams, but Nadal has 19 of them and once again established a stranglehold on his Swiss opponent. Wawrinka’s blistering one-handed
10:29 AM ET U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu has withdrawn from the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, citing the knee injury sustained in her defeat by Karolina Pliskova as the reason for pulling out of the season-ending championships. The Canadian suffered the injury three games into her meeting with Pliskova, and although she continued with a