The last few months of 2015 witnessed the coming of age of a few of the tour’s brightest talents as well as the re-emergence of some familiar faces. However, the final say went to one of the game’s perennial bridesmaids.

With Serena Williams deciding to wrap up her season early and a number of leading stars taking a well-earned break in the weeks following the US Open, the path was clear for the WTA’s less familiar faces to make some noise, Annika Beck, Yanina Wickmayer and Irina-Camelia Begu obliging with victories at the International events in Québec City, Tokyo and Seoul.

Up at Premier level, there was also success for Agnieszka Radwanska and Venus Williams, who walked away with the spoils at the Toray Pan Pacific Open and Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open. Williams would return to China to add a final flourish to a great year, seeing off a number of the WTA’s brightest young talents to win the inaugural Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.

At the final Premier Mandatory event of the year, the China Open, Garbiñe Muguruza further enhanced her growing reputation by derailing a resurgent Timea Bacsinszky in an entertaining final. Over in indoor halls of Europe, there were titles for Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Misaki Doi and Svetlana Kuznetsova in Linz, Luxembourg and Moscow,

This was all an appetizer for the grand finale – the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

As with most of the year’s big events, there was rarely a dull moment at the season-ending showpiece. The round robin stage featured thrills and spills, with the identity of the four semifinalists up in the air until almost the final ball was struck.

In the end, the returning Maria Sharapova was joined by a couple of other old hands – Petra Kvitova and Radwanska – and the new kid on the block, Muguruza, whom had continued her fine late season form by winning all three round robin matches.

The young Spaniard, though, ran out of steam in a thrilling encounter against Radwanska, while Kvitova ended Sharapova’s comeback in the second semifinal.

For the best part of an hour of the final Radwanska’s cerebral game defused Kvitova’s bombs with ease. The Pole has found her path to tennis’ biggest prizes blocked time and again by the game’s more powerful specimens, and getting over the finishing line proved far from straightforward. But this time she would not be denied, weathering the most turbulent of mid-match storms to come out on top of the world.