With Monday’s announcement that Jessica Pegula has qualified for the WTA Finals in Cancun, five of the eight spots are up for grabs, as Pegula joins Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina.
With the final WTA 1000 of the season underway in Beijing, here’s a look at the closing stages of the race to the WTA Finals.
Pegula and the doubles team of Hunter & Mertens qualified for the WTA Finals
Overview: singles
Seven players are vying for the final three spots, and by the end of Beijing, we will know at least one more player in the WTA Finals field as the player who owns the No.6 spot on the leaderboard will qualify. .
Current status
As the leaderboard currently stands, the No.6 spot belongs to Marketa Vondrousova. Due to winning his opening round match in Beijing, Ons Jabeur moved from No.8 to No.7, while the No.8 spot belongs to Karolina Muchova, who did not play in Beijing. Only 21 points separate Vondrousova and Muchova, with Jabeur poised to move up one spot to sixth if she wins her next match in Beijing. The Beijing final for Jabeur will ensure sixth place, regardless of who wins the title.
Sakkari, an outsider
Maria Sakkari remains in contention to qualify for the WTA Finals. After the US Open, Sakkari found herself at No.15 on the leaderboard, but a late-season surge sparked by a WTA 1000 title in Guadalajara and a semifinal run in Tokyo propelled her. to No.9.
With a performance bye in Beijing as a result of reaching the Tokyo semifinal, Sakkari opens the tournament against Linda Fruhvirtova. Sakkari can enter the Top 8 by reaching the Beijing final, although his hopes in Cancun will be dashed if he fails to reach the semifinals in Beijing.
Sakkari is scheduled to play in the WTA 500 tournament in Zhengzhou next week, her last chance to earn points.
Sakkari will miss the final week of the season as she has already reached her maximum number of WTA 250 tournaments as a Top 10 player competing in Linz and Nottingham; he also withdrew from Rabat after being accepted as a Top 10 player.
Title or bust of Beijing
Jelena Ostapenko, Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova remain in contention for the final qualifying spot but need to win the title in Beijing to remain in contention.
Overview: double
In the doubles race, both teams — Coco Gauff / Jessica Pegula and Storm Hunter / Elise Mertens — have qualified for the WTA Finals. There are eight teams competing for the last six spots.
The Czech doubles team Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova have a chance to secure qualification with a win in their next match against Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez. The Czechs, who begin their campaign in Beijing on Wednesday, could secure qualification on Tuesday if either Gabriela Dabrowski / Erin Routliffe or Vera Zvonareva / Laura Siegemund lose their respective matches.
Melichar Martinez and Perez are currently sitting at No.7 on the live leaderboard.
Zvonareva and Siegemund used a late-season surge to push into the Top 8. Zvonareva and Siegemund made a run to the US Open final and won the title in Ningbo last week, pushing them to No.9. With their opening-round wins over Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi, Zvonareva / Siegemund pushed into the Top 8 … for now.
Entering Beijing, Dabrowski and Routliffe sat on the outside looking in, currently holding the No.10 spot. A win on Tuesday could change that, as it could propel them into the Top 8.
Hsieh Su-Wei and Wang Xinyu remain in contention, although the duo sit at No.9 after their opening round defeat in Beijing and need to earn points in the final two weeks of the season to have any chance of qualifying. -qualify.
Other teams remaining in contention are Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs and Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara, who both lost in the opening round in Beijing, along with Leylah Ferandez and Taylor Townsend.