If you saw the final three games of Monday's round-robin match at the WTA Finals between No. 2 ranked Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 9 Svetlana Kuznetsova, you probably had a preview of what the WTA has in store for the near future: highly competitive matches between all-too-human players.
Kuznetsova, who survived a long haul to qualify for the Singapore Finals on the last day of the regular season, overcame fatigue and jet lag. (She won in Moscow on Saturday and had to play in Singapore on Monday.) She then overcame Radwanska's familiar chicanery and retrieving ability to win 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in 2 hours, 48 minutes.
Kuznetsova had to dig deep. It's something that the free-spirited, soulful winner hasn't always done in matches during a career that has fluctuated as wildly as the weather. The basic lack of week-in, week-out consistency is one reason Kuznetsova, while a two-time Grand Slam winner, has qualified for the WTA Finals for just the first time in her career at age 31.
Radwanska, seeded-second here and a former Grand Slam finalist but never champ, used her own shovel to help Kuznetsova dig. After a break, the Polish Popgun served for the match at 5-4. Her serve, already a borderline liability, immediately abandoned her. She wasted her match point when she delivered a watermelon of a second serve that Kuznetsova teed off on to set up a Radwanska error.
From there, the rest of the match was decided by Radwanska's dodgy serve and faltering nerves. Having won just one match in their last nine meetings must have preyed on Radwanska's mind.
The outcome, along with the other early scores as well as recent history, highlights the extent to which the WTA landscape is likely to be awash in smoke, noise and savage cries of despair or triumph in the coming days and months.
The WTA no longer has a dominant player, nor a rivalry to drive its business model. What it probably will offer, though, is fiercely competitive battles between strikingly flawed players.
Serena Williams might still be the nominal queen despite having surrendered her No. 1 ranking to Angelique Kerber, but Williams has joined the mortal ranks again. She's probably the greatest player of all time, but in our time she is now a flawed competitor. She has a great deal in common with the other women at or near the top of the game, all of whom are deficient in some way.
Williams has injury-related issues. She's lost the sangfroid and natural confidence she once possessed, and her commitment to featuring as a regular force on the tour is uncertain.
Kerber is top-seeded in Singapore, and she probably has the fewest weaknesses in the field. Her transformation into a two-time Grand Slam champion (and three-time finalist) this year has been remarkable. She's proved that she's no "One-Slam Wonder."
But you have to wonder if a 28-year-old veteran like Kerber has that sixth gear that would enable her to put down the hammer and dominate. On the more tangible level, that serve just isn't a top-class shot in an era where there are plenty of top-class returners.
Radwanska's great weakness is also her serve, but unlike Kerber, she also suffers from a general lack of power. She has been a steady presence at or near the top and might get another chance to win a major, but her confidence falters when she's serving against quality opposition in a tight situation. It's hard to overcome that tendency.
Simona Halep, seeded No. 3, looks great against many players. She picked apart Madison Keys in their first-round match in Singapore. But Halep seems unable to see herself as a true member of the elite. She often comes up short exactly when she's in position to take a critical step toward attaining that status. Some talented players have spent their careers finding ways to not win Grand Slam titles (hello, Tomas Berdych!). She might be one of them.
Karolina Pliskova is just 24, and had a breakthrough year with her stellar win in Cincinnati and a US Open runner-up finish. But for all the talk about the pros no longer having to prove anything at very young ages, the reality is that winning and losing are habits. Pliskova's results since the US Open have been mediocre.
Garbine Muguruza, the No. 5 seed, showed that she's capable of great things when she won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open last June. She's just 23 and ought to be full of ambition, but she doesn't seem to have the urge to dominate, and seems to have trouble finding motivation.
At 21, No. 6 Keys is the baby of the elite eight at the Finals. She's had a great year, but she still has many days when her game goes off the boil. Sure, she has time. But it's unlikely that she'll suddenly become a consistent player at the age of 23, or 25 or 27.
Dominika Cibulkova and Kuznetsova are seeded 7 and 8, respectively. It's hard to find fault with Cibulkova; you can't criticize someone for standing just 5-foot-3. But her height is a liability, and it's hard to see her overcoming it against all players on all surfaces most of the time. Kuznetsova has a questioning nature. She's never been on a quest for stardom, and that has undoubtedly contributed to her patchy record.
Yet Kuznetsova could win this edition of the Finals despite all the factors aligned against her because she has been playing like a woman on a mission, inured to pressure. She certainly hears the clock ticking on her career. It would be a fitting ending if she did emerge the winner, under the principle underlying the common expression, "The one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind."