Six players have now qualified for this year’s WTA Finals—Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek did it over the summer; Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova and Madison Keys did it during Beijing; and Jessica Pegula just punched her ticket to Riyadh in Wuhan.
Just two spots remain, and only three players—Mirra Andreeva, Jasmine Paolini and Elena Rybakina—are still in contention.
Things could heat up in a big way this week as all three of those players are competing at the WTA 500 event in Ningbo, China, with plenty of points up for grabs in the Race to the WTA Finals.
How have the Race to the WTA Finals standings changed after Wuhan?
The biggest news from Wuhan, other than Pegula qualifying, was that everyone from No. 10 down on the standings is now eliminated from contention. It’s now down to No. 7 Andreeva, No. 8 Paolini and No. 9 Rybakina for the last two spots in the eight-player field.
And things have tightened up significantly in that group, after Andreeva lost her opening match in Wuhan, while Paolini and Rybakina reached the semifinals and quarterfinals, respectively. It meant the Italian passed the Kazakh for the No. 8 spot.
What was more than a 500-point difference between No. 7 and No. 8 last week is now less than a 200-point gap going into Ningbo.
RACE TO THE WTA FINALS (after Wuhan, players qualified in bold):
- No. 1: Aryna Sabalenka—10,000 points
- No. 2: Iga Swiatek—8,368 points
- No. 3: Coco Gauff—6,574 points [+1]
- No. 4: Amanda Anisimova—5,907 points [-1]
- No. 5: Jessica Pegula—5,183 points
- No. 6: Madison Keys—4,449 points
- No. 7: Mirra Andreeva—4,319 points
- No. 8: Jasmine Paolini—4,131 points [+1]
- No. 9: Elena Rybakina—3,913 points [-1]