TENNIS TUESDAY: Halep Gets #1; Garcia,Nadal Keep Winning

SIMONA HALEP EARNS #1 WTA RANKING AFTER BEATING OSTAPENKO IN CHINA
For the third time in 2017, there is a new #1 player on the WTA tour. Simona Halep reached the pinnacle of women's tennis on Saturday when she reached the final of the Wuhan Open by defeating Jelena Ostapenko 6-2 6-4. Of course, Halep has had multiple chances to reach #1 in the last 4 months and famously lost the 2017 French Open final to Ostapenko in June. The Romanian is the 25th player to reach #1 but the fourth #1 this year, following Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza before her.

CAROLINE GARCIA WINS WUHAN AND BEIJING TO REACH TOP 10 FOR FIRST TIME
Could Andy Murray's prediction that Carolina Garcia of France would be a future #1 from four years ago be coming true soon? Garcia is playing some of the best tennis of her life and has now won two consecutive titles, the Wuhan Open (d. Barty) and China Open (d. Halep). She is on an 11-match winning streak and has surged into #9 on the WTA tour, reaching the Top 10 for the first time and becoming the second player since Marion Bartoli did it in 2013.

NADAL TOTAL 2017 MATCH WINS AT 6; GRABS BEIJING TITLE BY CRUSHING KYRGIOS
World #1 Rafael Nadal has won his 75th ATP tour title at the China Open (just 2 behind the #4 record holder John McEnroe) and now has the most match wins on tour for 2017: 61. He beat Grigor Dimitrov and Nick Kyrgios in the semifinal and final matches after saving match point against Lucas Pouille in his first match in Beijing.

FEDERER CELEBRATES 20 YEARS ON ATP TOUR (DEBUTED #803 ON 09/22/97)
World #2 Roger Federer celebrated 20 years on the ATP tour a few weeks ago. He debuted at #803 on the ATP rankings at age 16 on September 22, 1997. Interestingly, other future #1's were nearby, with Lleyton Hewitt at #808 and Juan Carlos Ferrerro at #756.

2015 BEIJING: Djokovic Easily Dispatches Nadal To Win 6th China Open

As expected, World #1 Novak Djokovic beat World #8 Rafael Nadal in Beijing to win his 6th China Open title. It was a record 45th meeting between the two and Nadal now only leads 23-22 and the last time he he beat his rival it was in the 2014 French Open final. Djokovic has won 29 consecutive matches at the China Open (6 titles) and won his 8th title of 2015, his 56th overall of his career (56-26 in finals).

The score was 6-2 6-2 with Djokovic never having his serve broken and having 6 aces.
Djokovic is 68-5 for the year and 23-4 against fellow Top 10 players.

The ATP Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament starts on Monday.

SHOCK! Serena Announces End of Her 2015 Season, Withdraws from China Open and WTA YEC

Serena Williams announced today that she was withdrawing from the China Open in Beijing and the WTA Year-End Championships in Singapore, bringing her 2015 professional tennis season to an early close. Despite losing her chance to accomplish the career grand slam by losing in the semifinals of the 2015 U.S. Open, the World #1 still won 3 major titles (Australia, Roland Garros and Wimbledon) winning 53 matches and losing 3 (to Roberta Vinci, Petra Kvitova and Belinda Bencic).

Serena's statement in full is below:

"It's no secret I've played injured most of the year -- whether it was my elbow, my knee, or, in the final moments after a certain match in Flushing, my heart. 

"I'm a fierce competitor. And I want to compete as well as I can, for as long as I can. So I am taking a proactive step and withdrawing from tournaments in Beijing and Singapore to properly address my health and take the time to heal. 

"This is a very difficult decision but one ultimately made because of the love of the game. 

"I plan to return to practicing and participating in exhibition matches later this year. And when I do, l will focus and focus and focus so I can continue my journey in this beautiful game."

Serena's withdrawal could cost her financially. She will lose $450,000 in potential bonus money because she did not end up playing the four mandatory Premier tournaments in 2015.

Even by ending her season in September Serena's list of accomplishments in 2015 is impressive.  She will end the year at World #1 for the fifth time in her career and next week, Serena will rise to #3 in the all-time list of most weeks at #1 (behind Steffi Graf at 377 and Martina Navratilova at 332) when she enjoys her 261st week at the top. She currently has such a huge lead at #1 that she will be #1 at least through the start of the 2016 Australia Open, where she will begin her quest to match Graf's gaudy total of 24 major career titles.

SHOCK! Serena Retires In 1st Set With Cornet For 3rd Loss Against Frenchwoman in 2014

Serena Williams retired from her 2nd round match against Alize Cornet up a service break 6-5 when she complained of dizziness and nausea on the changeover and was helped off the court by a trainer after she told the umpire she could not continue to play.

Her retirement from the match means that for the first time since 2007 Serena has lost to the same player three times in a calendar year. Earlier this year, Serena lost to Cornet in the semifinals of Dubai and then she lost to her again in the 3rd round of Wimbledon in 3 sets.

Some players just do not match-up well together and perhaps Cornet is Serena's kryptonite. Hopefully, Serena will recover from whatever ails her in time for her birthday on Friday and the China Open which begins in Beijing on Monday.