V. Williams returns to WTA Finals today

Venus Williams returns to the year-end WTA Finals for the first time since 2009 and will face Karolina Pliskova today in Singapore.

The top eight players in the world will play in the roundrobin event, which also features No. 1 Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Elina Svitolina, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Ostapenko and Caroline Garcia.

The 37-year-old Williams is the third-oldest player to qualify for the finals. Billie Jean King was 39 in 1983, and Martina Navratilova was 38 in 1994.

The fifth-ranked Williams reached two Grand Slam finals this season. She lost to her sister Serena at the Australian Open and to Muguruza in the final at Wimbledon.

Williams won the 2008 WTA Finals by defeating Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

Every player but Garcia has a possibility of reaching the year-end No. 1 ranking, depending on their result this week.

Williams is in the White Group, joining big-hitters Muguruza and Pliskova, who were both ranked No. 1 during this season. French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko is also in that group.

Williams and Pliskova are 1-1 in career meetings. Williams is 3-2 against Muguruza and 1-0 against Ostapenko.

Kremlin Cup: Julia Goerges ended her six-year wait for another WTA singles title by defeating Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-2 in the Kremlin Cup final Saturday.

This was Goerges’ third title in 10 finals. Her last was in 2011 in Stuttgart.

The men’s final today will pit sixth-seeded Damir Dzumhur against unseeded Ricardas Berankis.

Dzumhur won an all-Bosnian semifinal against Mirza Basic 6-0, 7-6 (9), while Berankis of Lithuania recovered from a set down in his semifinal to beat third-seeded Adrian Mannarino of France 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.