Ranking the Top Young Stars in Women's Tennis

The WTA season often plays out like a debutante ball. Young women's tennis players make their presence known to the elite, setting the stage for a future hierarchy.

Throughout 2014, a wave of new names announced themselves to the world.

Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard were the breakout stars, both reaching Grand Slam finals and cementing their status within the top ten and as major contenders.

Garbine Muguruza, another fresh face, produced an earth-shattering win which sent her stock soaring.

Teenagers like Belinda Bencic and Madison Keys also showed off their burgeoning potential.

The following slideshow will rank those players and highlight what makes them a rising star in tennis. All of these women are under 25 years old, but they play at a level far beyond their age.

5. Madison Keys

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Power oozes from Madison Keys' racket. She generates effortless pace on her shots, boasting one of the most potent serves on the WTA Tour.

And she's only a teenager.

Keys, 19, has long been touted as a future star. At 14 years old, she beat Serena Williams in World Team Tennis. Sure, it wasn't an official match, but the result hinted at a star in the making.

She plays an aggressive brand of first-strike tennis and keeps opponents on their heels. Her serve is already dominant, which sets her up to rip monstrous forehands. That recipe should bring Keys plenty of future wins on hard and grass courts. 

Count ESPN's Patrick McEnroe as a fan, and he gushed about Keys' massive potential to the The New York Times: 

"

She’s big and strong; she’s a very good athlete and also just learning to corral her game a little bit. She has a lot of weapons. She’s got a huge serve, and she really hits the ball pretty big. So really it’s kind of a threefold process with her. Obviously physically, getting her stronger, getting quicker—a lot of that comes with just maturity.

"

In 2014, Keys fought through growing pains. There were a ton of losses to veteran players and uneasy performances not unusual for a teenager. But her talent remained evident on the grass of Eastbourne, where she defeated Angelique Kerber for her first career title.

To build on that success in 2015, Keys will have to harness her power to become a more complete and consistent player. Help will come from the presence of a former Grand Slam champion in her corner.

Keys recently announced she'll be working on a part-time basis with Lindsay Davenport. That hire should speed up the learning process and bring tactical maturation as she tries to become the next great U.S. tennis player.

4. Garbine Muguruza

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

The most stunning upset of the year sent a bewildered Serena Williams home and introduced another young star in women's tennis.

Garbine Muguruza, a 21-year-old Spaniard, shocked defending-champion Serena 6-2, 6-2 in the second round of the French Open. She overpowered the American with rippling forehands and backhands, also showcasing adroit defensive skills and court coverage. Her performance was breathtaking.

The significance of the victory wasn't lost on Muguruza in her post-match interview with the Guardian's Kevin Mitchell: "A change is coming. This year a lot of young girls are playing really well. These things are going to happen. Some time the new generation [has to] come through and I think now is the moment."

She eventually reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in Paris, coming within one game of toppling Maria Sharapova. Muguruza lost that match (6-1, 5-7, 1-6) but pushed the Russian to the brink.

Beating top-ten players wasn't a problem in 2014 for Muguruza. She defeated Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open, Simona Halep in Wuhan and Serena at Roland Garros. No one intimidated her.

"

Muguruza's game is interesting as she has short preparations, moves up to the ball, and goes through everytime. Good game for hard courts.

— Coach MOURATOGLOU (@pmouratoglou) January 18, 2014"

Her hard court prowess showed, as Muguruza captured her first career title in Hobart and made the semifinals in Tokyo and Sofia. 

First-round losses at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open halted her momentum, but she never let her game drop too low. Muguruza finished the year with 41 wins, enough to earn her the No. 20 ranking.

The next step for Muguruza is finding consistency. If she can channel the form that carried her to the upset of Serena, her 2015 season may offer similar thrills.

3. Belinda Bencic

Atsushi Tomura/Getty Images

Switzerland is becoming a factory for tennis champions. From the otherworldly Roger Federer, to the great Martina Hingis, as well as 2014's breakout male star Stan Wawrinka, the country has produced 23 Grand Slam singles titles since 1997.

The next great Swiss star may already be in the making.

Belinda Bencic, a 17-year-old from Flawil, Switzerland, made an astronomical leap in 2014, beginning the year ranked No. 212 but finishing at No. 33. As a result, she was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year. 

Her march began at the Family Circle Cup, where she turned eyes with a semifinal run and wins over Sara Errani and fellow young gun Elina Svitolina.

A third-round appearance at Wimbledon further hinted at Bencic's potential. But her coming out party came in New York.

Under the amplified microscope of the U.S. Open, Bencic made a spirited run to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, the youngest player to reach that stage at a major since 1997. She defeated Jelena Jankovic and Angelique Kerber at Flushing Meadows, though her tournament ended with a loss to Peng Shuai.

"

Belinda Bencic, the second coming of Chris Evert but gifted with superior power, reflecting how the game has changed. Even looks like Chris

— Pete Bodo (@ptbodo) June 27, 2014"

Bencic is often compared to Hingis and rightfully so. Like her compatriot, Bencic boasts power but it doesn't define her. Instead, she's a tactician who sees the court well and uses savvy groundstrokes off both wings to beat other players.

The U.S. Open run wasn't a flash in the pan for Bencic. In October, she advanced to the first career final in Tianjin, China. She lost to Alison Riske, but the result showed why the teenager is considered the top prospect on tour.

Chris Evert raved about Bencic's potential to CNN's Matthew Ponsford: 

"

You can see by the hands, and you can see how she takes the ball on the rise...And how she improvises and how she comes up with touch shots when she needs them...She's very focused mentally, emotionally very composed and I just thought: 'She has it.'

"

Bencic proved her mettle at age 16, winning the 2013 Junior French Open and Wimbledon titles. It might not be long before she achieves similar success at the WTA level.

2. Eugenie Bouchard

Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Some players shrink under pressure. Others love the bright lights. Eugenie Bouchard falls into the latter.

Bouchard, a 20-year-old Canadian, took women's tennis by storm in 2014, her second full-season on the WTA Tour. 

At the Australian Open—her fourth career Grand Slam tournament appearance—Bouchard reached the semifinals, with a thrilling quarterfinal win over Ana Ivanovic serving as her first signature victory.

The red dirt of Roland Garros was equally kind to her, and she advanced to her second-straight major semifinal. Bouchard pushed eventual-champion Maria Sharapova to the brink in that match, but the Russian held out for a tense three-set win.

That loss didn't slow Bouchard down. She went one step further at Wimbledon, crushing top-ten players Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep on the way to her first major final. A sizzling performance from Petra Kvitova kept Bouchard from winning, though her status as a top contender had been confirmed.

Three Grand Slam tournaments, three semifinal appearances. It became clear Bouchard thrives in the spotlight, as Louisa Thomas wrote for Grantland: 

"

Bouchard has played her best tennis on the biggest stages, the most prestigious and most exciting tournaments, where other players tend to tighten up, restricting their movements and altering their swing. She is aggressive and agile, and it can seem like she somehow dominates the space she’s in.

"

Her style of pestering, opportunistic tennis—taking the ball early and hard to upset her opponents' rhythm—worked well for Bouchard in the first half of the year. But she hit a slump during the summer and exited the U.S. Open in the fourth round. 

Bouchard rebounded in the fall for a finals appearance in Wuhan, where her old foe Kvitova prevailed again. Though the Canadian dropped all three round-robin matches at her first WTA Championships appearance, she finished the year ranked No. 7 in the world.

As 2015 approaches, Bouchard will look to rekindle the success she had early this year. Her star power, however, remains unquestioned, as Bouchard has the firepower on court and the marketability off it to be the face of women's tennis.

1. Simona Halep

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Packed into Simona Halep's pocket-sized 5'6" frame is giant potential.

Quick feet and hands give her a potent combination of elite court movement and defensive shotmaking. She plays like a backboard, continually putting her opponents' best shots back into play. Her anticipation skills are unbridled on the WTA Tour.

"

Simona Halep one of the most natural tennis players in the game? If she went out with no strategy, decent chance her instincts would prevail

— DavidLaw (@DavidLawTennis) October 22, 2014"

Those instincts prevailed quite often in 2014. Halep racked up 46 wins, titles in Doha and Bucharest and the year-end No. 2 ranking. She reached her first major quarterfinal at the Australian Open and didn't stop there.

Halep's game is naturally suited to clay courts. She gave her best Rafael Nadal imitation at the French Open, surging to the finals without dropping a set. There, she met Maria Sharapova, and the two produced one of the best matches of the year and a legendary Grand Slam final.

Under intense pressure, both players brought the goods. They went back and forth in a seesaw match that saw 16 breaks of serve. Sharapova's firepower was matched by Halep's unrelenting defense. Ultimately, Sharapova prevailed 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-4, but it took over three hours to finish off Halep.

The loss would have crushed most players. Not Halep, who shook it off and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon.

She saved her best tennis for the end of the year. Halep dominated Serena Williams 6-0, 6-2 in the round-robin stage of the WTA Championships. Serena won their rematch in the finals, but Halep reinforced her status at the tournament as a top contender in 2015.

The 23-year-old Romanian plays a style similar to Caroline Wozniacki. She's comfortable as a counterpuncher, using her stellar speed and consistent groundstrokes to outlast other women. Like Wozniacki, what hinders Halep at times is passivity. Against offensive machines like Sharapova, she struggles to take control of points and leaves the outcome of matches on her opponents' rackets.

Halep started to take more chances on the court as the year went on, a strategy that payed off in the win over Serena. Once she becomes more comfortable as the aggressor, Halep has the game to win multiple Grand Slam titles.

All statistics courtesy of WTATennis.com unless otherwise noted. 

Joe Kennard is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. 

Follow @JoeKennard.