And Then There Were Four: Previewing, picking the WTA Finals semis

In January, had you been asked to predict who was going to make the final four in Singapore 10 months hence, I’m guessing these two women wouldn’t have been among your first, or second, or maybe even your 10th choices. The 31-year-old Kuznetsova began the year ranked 25th, and she was just 3-12 in her four previous Finals appearances. Cibulkova began the season ranked 38th, and in more than a decade on tour she had never finished in the Top 10, let alone qualified for the season-ender.

Yet here Sveta and Domi are, and so far the tournament has been better for it. Kuznetsova has produced one of the performances of the year this week. Following a title in Moscow over the weekend, she gutted out two very close, very long three-set wins in Singapore. At the same time, Cibulkova showed heart by staying positive after two losses and bouncing back with her best tennis of the week to beat Simona Halep and leapfrog over her in the standings.

Now Kuznetsova and Cibulkova, the unlikey twosome, will face off. If recent history is a guide, Cibulkova has to be the favorite: She has won their last five meetings, incuding three on hard courts. But there is a caveat to consider: The semifinal they played in Wuhan earlier this month was the first time they had met since 2011, and it was close. Kuznetsova won the first set, but Cibulkova came back to win the next two. Considering that Kuznetsova must be feeling the effects of two frenetic weeks of tennis, and that Cibulkova seems to be finding her form in Singapore, I could see a repeat of their Wuhan result on Saturday.

Winner: Cibulkova

This matchup was a little easier to predict, and perhaps a little more enticing to imagine. Kerber and Radwanska are the top two seeds in Singapore, and the No. 1 and No. 3 players in the world. They’ve developed a long, close, back-and-forth, intermittently dramatic rivalry over the years. With her win over Kerber in Beijing last year, Radwanska took a 6-5 lead in their head to head, but Kerber won their last great match, a three-setter in Stanford last summer.

Maybe it’s appropriate that the penultimate contest of 2016 will be the first meeting between these two this season. Kerber has had a career year, and Radwanska hasn’t been far behind. It’s hard to imagine a better way for the year to wind up than with a couple hours of their thoughtful, varied, cat-and-mouse rallies. It would also be appropriate if, when they were all over, Kerber had gotten the best of them.

Winner: Kerber