SINGAPORE (AP) – The Women’s Tennis Association has dedicated its trophy for the top-ranked player of the year in honor of Chris Evert.
Simona Halep has received the newly named Chris Evert WTA World No. 1 Trophy. She’s the year-end No. 1 for the second straight season. Halep isn’t playing in the current WTA Finals because of a back injury.
Evert was the first WTA No. 1 in 1975, when she won 15 titles. She says she’s “honored and privileged” to have her name on the trophy. The American finished her career in 1989 with 157 singles titles and 18 Grand Slam singles titles.
Steffi Graf earned the year-end No. 1 a record eight times from 1987-96.
JAPANESE ACE WINS
In Vienna, Japan’s Kei Nishkori enhanced his prospects of appearing at the ATP Finals in London next month with a 6-3, 6-1 quarter-final win over top seed Dominic Thiem in Vienna on Friday.
Nishkori jumped a place into ninth in the race to make it to the season-finale contested by the top eight players in the world.
Thiem is currently in eighth spot.
Nishkori will face Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin in the semi-finals on Saturday, with South African Kevin Anderson facing Fernando Verdasco in the other semi.
