Sofia Kenin is the eighth American to claim the WTA Player of the Year accolade after winning her maiden Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open; Iga Świątek and doubles team Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos also in the winners circle
Wednesday 9 December 2020 06:11, UK
American Sofia Kenin has been named the WTA Player of the Year after a hugely successful year which saw her lift the Australian Open.
The 22-year-old captured her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne, where she defeated world No 1 Ashleigh Barty in the semi-finals and former No 1 Garbiñe Muguruza in the final.
Kenin went on to reach her second career Grand Slam final at Roland Garros, losing to Poland's Iga Świątek and finished the season at a career-high world No 4.
She becomes the eighth American to earn the honour since it began in 1977, joining Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, Lindsay Davenport, Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati in the list.
French Open singles champion Swiatek won the Most Improved Player of the Year award.
The talented Pole won her maiden Tour-level title at Roland Garros, defeating 2019 finalist Marketa Vondrousova, 2018 champion Halep and 2020 Australian Open champion Kenin along the way and didn't drop a set throughout the fortnight.
At 19-years-old, she became the youngest woman since Monica Seles to win the French Open.
Nadia Podoroska of Argentina won Newcomer of the Year, while former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka claimed the Comeback Player of the Year award after she claimed her first title in over four years at the Western & Southern Open and advanced to her fifth career Grand Slam final at the US Open. The Belarusian also regained her spot in the WTA Top 20.
Also on the list of honours were Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos, who won Doubles Team of the Year.
The French-Hungarian pairing captured both the Australian Open and French Open titles, marking their third and fourth major doubles titles as a team.
The Czech Republic's Marie Bouzkova earned her first Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award which is presented to the player who conducts herself in a manner fitting of a professional sports figure and observes the rules of fair play, shows respect for others and is gracious on and off the court.
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