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World No.1 Iga Swiatek looks to cap historic season at WTA Finals: Preview

The top eight singles players – and doubles teams – take to the court 31 Oct - 7 Nov for the WTA’s season ending championships in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Can Iga Swiatek finish her 2022 tennis season the same way she’s spent much of it: By holding up a trophy?

The world No.1 has captured two major titles this year – at the French and US Opens – in what has been a standout year for the Pole, who has won eight tournaments in total.

She’ll look to finish 2022 off with an exclamation mark at next week’s (31 Oct -7 Nov) WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, where the top eight singles players (and doubles teams) do battle in a round-robin format in hopes of qualifying for the championship rounds.

Not since Serena Williams won 11 trophies in 2013 (and captured three of four majors in 2015) has a single player been so dominant in women's tennis. Swiatek would like to end her season on another high in Texas.

Here, a preview of the action, the stars to watch and how you can tune in from around the world.

Can anyone solve the Iga riddle?

It’s a legitimate question to ask.

The 21-year-old has a 64-8 match record in what is one of the most memorable seasons in the last two decades: her 37-match, six-tournament win streak from late February to early July is something that hadn't been done in women’s tennis since 1997 ( Martina Hingis ).

The three-time major champ is 24-1 on American soil, and with the WTA Finals in the U.S. for the first time since 2005, she’ll take plenty of confidence from that stat.

Swiatek is a whopping 19-1 this year against the rest of the WTA finalists, her lone loss coming to Caroline Garcia on red clay in Poland just after Wimbledon, in a stretch of the season where she went just 4-4 in eight matches.

Swiatek has had a meteoric rise in the last four years: She was the Youth Olympic Games Buenos Aires 2018 gold medal winner in doubles (with Kaja Juvan ) before a stunning run to the French Open trophy in 2020.

Gauff, Pegula carry home hopes

Speaking of the rest of the field, teenager Coco Gauff and her doubles partner Jessica Pegula have built incredibly strong respective 2022 campaigns, Pegula winning her first WTA 1000 just last week in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The duo has also qualified for the elite eight in doubles, as well, with Gauff having reached world No.1 in the doubles rankings earlier this year.

Gauff, 18, and Pegula, 28, are the first pair of Americans ranked inside the world’s Top 4 in singles since Serena and Venus Williams – in 2010.

Gauff is the youngest player to qualify for the WTA Finals since Maria Sharapova in 2005, while both she and Pegula will finish the year at guaranteed career-best rankings.

Jabeur aims to flip the script

World No.2 Ons Jabeur is a trailblazer for Tunisian and Arab women in sports – and now a first-name celebrity for that part of the world. But the expressive 28-year-old , armed with an all-court game, would like to write a fairytale ending to her year after a series of “almosts.”

She finished as runner-up at both Wimbledon (to Elena Rybakina ) and the US Open (Swiatek), while winning titles in Madrid and Berlin. She is 3-7 overall in her career in finals, but has been outspoken about her desire to be world No.1 in 2023.

Can she get a running start on that goal with a win in Fort Worth?

Sakkari, Garcia and feel-good stories aplenty

The aforementioned Garcia, as well as Aryna Sabalenka , Daria Kasatkina and Maria Sakkari round out the singles field, which has been split into two groups of four, where each player contests three round-robin matches.

The top four players move into the semi-finals, two from each group.

Sakkari, the Greek star, went through a 4-7 spell at one point this season but won a do-or-die match in Guadalajara last week to secure the final spot at the Finals, while Garcia used a 32-5 run during a similar stretch to produce one of the feel-good stories of the year, returning to this event for the first time in five years.

The Frenchwoman was ranked No.79 in late May. She’s now world No.6.

Kasatkina, a fan favourite, adds another crafty game style to the draw, while the big-hitting, ball-bashing Sabalenka is in search of the biggest title of her career in Fort Worth having yet to win a major.

Garbine Muguruza of Spain ended her season early and won't defend her title in Texas after dropping outside of the top 50 in the singles' rankings.

Doubles: Olympic champs Krejcikova/ Siniakova lead the way

2021 French Open singles champ Barbora Krejcikova had a roller-coaster year on the singles court (it ended on an up) but has been rock steady on the doubles court, where she and fellow Czech player Katerina Siniakova captured three coveted crowns at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

They have now won six Grand Slams in doubles together, while also capturing the gold at Tokyo 2020 in 2021.

Gauff/Pegula will surely have the home crowd support, though no team can be overlooked. The No.2 seeds are Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos .

Krejcikova and Siniakova are the defending champions at the event.

2022 WTA Finals: When and how to watch

Round-robin play gets started on Monday (31 Oct) and goes for six days , to Saturday (5 Nov). Play begins at 3pm local (CT) each day.

The semi-final round is held Sunday (6 Nov), while a special Monday night final (7 Nov) will serve as the culmination of the WTA season.

While Tennis Channel carries the action in the host nation of the U.S., Prime Video is where British fans can find the tennis – as well as beIN in France and Canal+ in Poland.

See a full list of WTA broadcasters here .

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Players, Groups, Prize Money, Fort Worth: Everything you ever wanted to know about the WTA Finals (but never had time to find out)

All you need to know about the 2022 WTA Finals, the season-ending finale in women’s tennis, which will be held in Fort Worth, Texas this year

What are the WTA Finals?

The WTA Finals are the season-ending finale to the women’s tennis season, where the top eight singles players and doubles team compete for the championship.

Where will the WTA Finals be held this year?

In 2018, the WTA Tour announced that the WTA Finals would be held in Shenzhen, China from 2019 to 2028. However, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the suspension of all WTA events in China over concerns of the Chinese government’s treatment of WTA player  Peng Shuai  – who accused a former top Communist Party leader of sexual assault and then retracted it under pressure – the tournament is being held in a different city for the second year in a row.

In 2021, the tournament was held in Guadalajara, Mexico while this year, it will be held in Fort Worth, Texas.

When will the WTA Finals be held?

The WTA Finals will be held from October 31 to November 7. Details of the tournament schedule are available  on the official website .

How can I get tickets for the WTA Finals?

Details on how to purchase tickets for the event are available at this link.

Which players have qualified for the WTA Finals

The WTA Finals are contested by the top eight singles players and doubles teams.

The players who have qualified for the singles event are:

Iga Swiatek

Jessica pegula.

• Maria Sakkari
• Caroline Garcia
• Aryna Sabalenka
• Daria Kasatkina

A photo 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 a thousand words 📸 Your #WTAFinals elite eight ✨ pic.twitter.com/OoEehgW4ZJ — wta (@WTA) October 29, 2022

In doubles, the teams who have qualified are:

• Barbora Krejcikova / Katerina Siniakova
• Gabriela Dabrowski/ Giuliana Olmos
• Coco Gauff/Jessica Pegula
• Veronika Kudermetova/ Elise Mertens
• Lyudmyla Kichenok/ Jelena Ostapenko
• Xu Yifan/ Yang Zhaoxuan
• Anna Danilina/ Beatriz Haddad Maia
• Desiree Krawczyk/ Demi Schuurs

A night to remember ✨ Your @WTAFinals top 8 doubles teams! pic.twitter.com/id8VEyb01D — wta (@WTA) October 29, 2022

What are the groups for the 2022 WTA Finals?

The players and teams are divided into two groups of four each, with the top two advancing to the semi-finals. In singles, the groups are named after WTA legends Tracy Austin and Nancy Richey. In doubles, the groups are named after Rosie Casals and Pam Shriver.

Two more legends honored by our doubles group names 🫡 Which team will lift the @WTAFinals Martina Navratilova Trophy? 🏆 #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/hqINs8SVsz — wta (@WTA) October 29, 2022

What surface are the WTA Finals being played on?

The WTA Finals are played on indoor hard courts.

What is the Order of Play for the 2022 WTA Finals?

You can find the daily schedule for the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas can be viewed here .

Who are the defending champions?

Garbine Muguruza won the singles title at the 2021 WTA Finals, beating Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 7-5, while Krejcikova/ Siniakova lifted the women’s doubles title with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Elise Mertens/ Su-Wei Hsieh.

What is the prize money on offer?

There is a financial commitment of $5,000,000 at the WTA Finals.

A singles player can win $1.68 million if they go undefeated through the tournament whereas the doubles team can earn up to $365,00 during the week.

Singles Prize Money:

• $110,000 participation fee and $110,000 for each round-robin win
• If a player reaches the semi-finals, she earns an additional $30,000
• A semi-final win nets them an additional $420,000
• Winning the title will get them an additional $820,000

Doubles Prize Money:

• $50,000 participation fee and $20,000 for each round-robin win
• If a team reaches the semi-finals, they earn an additional $5,000
• A semi-final win nets them an additional $80,000
• Winning the final will get them an additional $170,000

What are the ranking points on offer?

An undefeated champion can receive 1,500 ranking points. Here the breakdown of the ranking points awarded during the tournament:

• 125 points for each match played during the round robin
• 125 points for each match won during the round robin
• +330 points in case of qualification for the final
• +420 points in case of title

Who are the previous champions of the WTA Finals?

Some of the biggest names in women’s tennis have won the WTA Finals. Here is a list of the singles champions together with the year in which they won:

• Chris Evert (1972, 1973, 1977)
• Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1974)
• Martina Navratilova (1978, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986)
• Tracy Austin (1980)
• Sylvia Hanika (1982)
• Steffi Graf (1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996)
• Gabriela Sabatini (1988, 1994)
• Monica Seles (1990, 1991, 1992)
• Jana Novotna (1997)
• Martina Hingis (1998, 2000)
• Lindsay Davenport (1999)
• Serena Williams (2001, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014)
• Kim Clijsters (2002, 2003, 2010)
• Maria Sharapova (2004)
• Amelie Mauresmo (2005)
• Justine Henin (2006, 2007)
• Venus Williams (2008)
• Petra Kvitova (2011)
• Agnieszka Radwanska (2015)
• Dominika Cibulkova (2016)
• Caroline Wozniacki (2017)
• Elina Svitolina (2018)
• Ash Barty (2019)
• 2020 – not held due to COVID-19 pandemic
• Garbine Muguruza (2021)

Below is a list of the doubles champions along with the year in which they won:

• 1972 – no doubles played
• Rosemary Casals/ Margaret Court (1973)
• Rosemary Casals/ Billie Jean King (1974)
• Margaret Court/ Virginia Wade (1975)
• Billie Jean King/ Betty Stove (1976)
• Martina Navratilova/ Betty Stove (1977)
• Billie Jean King/ Martina Navratilova (1978)
• Françoise Durr/ Betty Stove (1979)
• Billie Jean King / Martina Navratilova (1980)
• Martina Navratilova/ Pam Shriver (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985)
• Hana Mandlikova/ Wendy Turnbull (1986 – March)
• Martina Navratilova/ Pam Shriver (1986 – November, 1987, 1988, 1989)
• Kathy Jordan/ Elizabeth Smylie (1990)
• Martina Navratilova/ Pam Shriver (1991)
• Arantxa Sanchez Vicario/ Helena Sukova (1992)
• Gigi Fernandez/ Natalia Zvereva (1993, 1994)
• Jana Novtona/ Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (1995)
• Lindsay Davenport/ Mary Joe Fernandez (1996)
• Lindsay Davenport/ Jana Novotna (1997)
• Lindsay Davenport/ Natasha Zvereva (1998)
• Martina Hingis/ Anna Kournikova (1999, 2000)
• Lisa Raymond/ Rennae Stubbs (2001)
• Elena Dementieva/ Janette Husarova (2002)
• Virginia Ruano Pascual/ Paola Suarez (2003)
• Nadia Petrova/ Meghann Shaughnessy (2004)
• Lisa Raymond/ Samantha Stosur (2005, 2006)
• Cara Black/ Liezel Huber (2007, 2008)
• Nuria Llagostera Vives/ Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (2009)
• Gisela Dulko/ Flavia Pennetta (2010)
• Liezel Huber/ Lisa Raymond (2011)
• Maria Kirilenko/ Nadia Petrova (2012)
• Hsieh Su-wei/ Peng Shuai (2013)
• Cara Black/ Sania Mirza (2014)
• Martina Hingis/ Sania Mirza (2015)
• Ekaterina Makarova/ Elena Vesnina (2016)
• Timea Babos/ Andrea Hlavackova (2017)
• Timea Babos/ Kristina Mladenovic (2018, 2019)
• Barbora Krejcikova/ Katerina Siniakova (2021)

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2022 WTA Finals: When does it take place, players who have qualified, prize money, TV and streaming info

Edition No 51 of the WTA Finals (formerly known as the Virginia Slims Championships and the WTA Championships) is just around the corner and we give you a lowdown of the important things ahead of the event.

What is the WTA Finals and when does it take place?

The WTA Finals is the season-ending showpiece tournament in women’s tennis and only the eight best performing players based on the WTA Rankings over the year qualifies for the event.

The inaugural tournament was hosted in 1972 and went by the name Virginia Slims Championships before it was renamed the WTA Tour Championships and then the WTA Finals.

After the four Grand Slams, the WTA Finals offers the biggest prize money pool and points in women’s tennis (more on that below).

This year’s tournament will run from October 31 until November 7 with both the singles and doubles finals taking place on the final Sunday.

What about this year’s venue for the team event?

After five years in Singapore from 2014 to 2018, the WTA Finals has moved around quite a bit in recent years as Shenzhen in China hosted the 2019 edition before the 2020 tournament was cancelled due to Covid-19. Guadalajara stepped in last year and many expected it to return to Mexico this year.

However, the season-ending event will return to the United States for the first time since 2005 as Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, has been handed the hosting rights .

The 14,000-seat multipurpose arena, which hosted concerns from Rod Steward, Kiss, Paul McCartney and Post Malone in recent years, will have a hard-court indoor court.

Tell us more about the format, please…

The top eight players in the world and the top eight doubles team over the season qualify for the event and they are split into two groups of four.

Each player/team then compete against the other three players/teams in her/their group and the top two in each group qualify for the semi-final. It will be first vs second in the last four. The winners advance to the finals.

Who are the eight players/teams who have qualified for the 2022 edition?

World No 1 Iga Swiatek was the first player to secure her place in the singles event on the back of winning the French Open, US Open and six other tournaments.

Ons Jabeur was next to confirm her spot as the Tunisian finished runner-up at the US Open (she didn’t get any points at Wimbledon) and also won the Madrid Open while Jessica Pegula qualified after reaching three Grand Slam quarter-finals and the final in Madrid.

Coco Gauff, Caroline Garcia, Aryna Sabalenka, Daria Kasatkina and Maria Sakkari secured their tickets at the Guadalajara Open in Mexico.

Gauff and Pegula will compete in both the singles and the doubles as the American pair qualified for both events.

They will be joined in the doubles by top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos, Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko, Kudermetova and Elise Mertens, Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan, Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs, and Anna Danilina and Beatriz Haddad Maia.

The roll of honour so far…

Chris Evert won the maiden event in 1972 and she went on to win another three titles, but Martina Navratilova holds the record for most trophies as she won eight while Steffi Graf and Serena Williams won five each.

There have been six different winners since Williams won her final title in 2014 as Agnieszka Radwanska, Dominika Cibulkova, Caroline Wozniacki, Elina Svitolina, Ashleigh Barty and Garbine Muguruza all lifted the trophy in recent years.

And there will be a new winner as none of this year’s competitors have won the title. Svitolina is currently on maternity leave, Barty has retired and Muguruza has failed to qualify.

Krejcikova and Siniakova are looking to win back-to-back titles in the doubles while no one will catch Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver in the near future as they won 13 and 10 titles respectively.

When does the draw take place?

The draw is set to take place a couple of days before the main event starts so either October 29 or 30.

What about points and prize money?

If a player wins the tournament undefeated then she will walk away with 1,500 ranking points.

Points are awarded as follow:

– 125 points for each match played during the round robin – 125 points for each match won during the round robin – No points are awarded for the semi-final – The player who wins the tournament adds 750 points to those she picked up in the round-robin phase while the runner-up collects 330

The prize money for the season-ending event is $5,000,000 (about £4,4m).

Winning the tournament undefeated will earn you $1,680,000 in the singles and $360,000 in the doubles.

The participation fee works as follows in the singles: 3 matches = $110,000 2 matches = $90,000 1 match = $70,000

On top of that you will get $110,000 for every match that you win in the round-robin stage.

If you lose in the semi-final you will add $30,000 to the prize money you picked up in the group phase. The overall winner will collect a cheque of $1,240,000 plus the money she earned earlier in the tournament while the runner-up gets $420,000.

Participation fee for the doubles: 3 matches = $50,000 2 matches = $40,000 1 match = $30,000

No extra cash for reaching the semi-finals, but the winners get a $250,000 cheque and the runners-up walk away with $80,000.

Which TV channels and streaming services will broadcast the tournament?

Amazon Prime has the rights to broadcast WTA events in the United Kingdom and Ireland. New members can sign up for £7.99 a month, and are eligible for a free 30-day trial.

Tennis Channel covers the United States with a combination of TVA Sports, DAZN, TSN broadcasting WTA tournaments in Canada.

Europe and Australia are covered by beIN Sports, Setanta, Super Tennis, Tennis Channel and other local broadcasters while SuperSport has the exclusive rights for sub-Saharan Africa.

ESPN broadcasts WTA events in Latin and Central America and iQIYI, Now TV, DAZN and StarHub covers parts of Asia.

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Fort Worth, Texas to host the 2022 WTA Finals

After replacing Shenzhen with Guadalajara  last year due to COVID-19 restrictions, the WTA is moving the year-end finale to Fort Worth, Texas in 2022 .

The WTA Finals, the elite tennis tournament featuring the Top 8 singles players and doubles teams, will take place at the state-of-the-art Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, from October 31st to November 7th.

“The Dickies Arena and the city of Fort Worth has a proven track record of hosting world-class sporting and entertainment events, and we are excited to bring the WTA’s showpiece tournament back to the United States for the first time since 2005,” said Steve Simon, WTA Chairman and CEO. “This location and venue for the 2022 WTA Finals will provide a fantastic experience for players and fans alike and offer a fitting finale as another exciting season on the Hologic WTA Tour comes to a close.”

Last year, when the WTA announced Guadalajara in Mexico as the replacement city, it was stated that the WTA Finals would come back to Shenzhen from 2022 through 2030. Apparently, plans needed to be modified in the meantime, but the latest WTA press release states that the season-ending tournament should be back in Shenzhen, China, next year.

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Marija, Dickies Arena is right in my backyard. I was born and raised in Ft. Worth, Texas. And yes I am planning on attending the whole tournament. I already attended the NCAA (college) basketball tournament, known as “March Madness” at Dickies Arena. I will definitely get some pictures and stories out of “Cowtown” (as the locals refer to Ft. Worth) and hopefully see some good tennis. There is a good chance that Coco Gauff and Jessicas Pegula will qualify in singles and doubles, as well as Caroline Garcia. I really hope that Coco makes it because that would generate a lot of interest in tennis in the middle of American Football (NFL) season, specifically the Dallas Cowboys.

Jim, that sounds wonderful. It’s so great that the WTA is coming right to your backyard. I’m looking forward to hearing your first-hand experiences in the comments here.

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2022 WTA Finals Official Photographs and Draws Released

October 29, 2022 by Tennis Panorama News

FORT WORTH, TX, USA – The WTA today released the official iconic photographs for the 2022 WTA Finals, featuring the Top 8 singles players posing with the Billie Jean King Trophy and the Top 8 doubles teams with the Martina Navratilova Trophy in Fort Worth, Texas. The draws for the WTA Finals have also been revealed and were conducted following the iconic photographs during the event’s opening gala at the Hotel Drover. All the group information for the singles and doubles draw can be found here and is listed below. Hotel Drover, the setting for this year’s iconic photo located in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards, is an award-winning rustic retreat inspired by the pioneering spirit of the West.

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Iga swiatek storms to wta finals title, clinches year-end no. 1 ranking for second year in a row, saudi arabia will host the women's tennis wta finals for the next three years, ambassador responds to call by evert and navratilova to keep women's tennis out of saudi arabia, “we can’t sit back”: chris evert, martina navratilova urge wta to stay out of saudi arabia, iga swiatek will finish the year at no. 1 after beating jessica pegula to win the wta finals, the aura of iga: on swiatek’s 2022-style run to the wta finals title, and the year-end no. 1 ranking, wta finals cancun final preview: iga swiatek vs. jessica pegula, iga swiatek tops aryna sabalenka at the wta finals to reach the title match and get a shot at no. 1, iga swiatek beats aryna sabalenka to reach wta finals final, now a win away from return to no. 1, nineteen years after tournament debut, vera zvonareva to play for wta finals doubles title.

First #WTAFinals champion speech for @Iga_Swiatek 😄🏆 pic.twitter.com/P4k07W8mGO — Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) November 6, 2023

WTA Finals to be held in Fort Worth this year

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Iga Swiatek tops Aryna Sabalenka at the WTA Finals to reach the title match and get a shot at No. 1

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, celebrates after defeating Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, during a women’s singles semifinal match at the WTA Finals tennis championships, in Cancun , Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, reacts after losing a point to Iga Swiatek, of Poland, during a women’s singles semifinal match at the WTA Finals tennis championships, in Cancun , Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, serves to Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, during a women’s singles semifinal match at the WTA Finals tennis championships, in Cancun , Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, returns a shot to Iga Swiatek, of Poland, during a women’s singles semifinal match at the WTA Finals tennis championships, in Cancun , Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Iga Swiatek, of Poland, bottom, returns a shot to Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, during a women’s singles semifinal match at the WTA Finals tennis championships, in Cancun , Mexico, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

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CANCUN, Mexico (AP) — Iga Swiatek gave herself a shot at her first WTA Finals title and the year-end top ranking by eliminating No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 6-2 in a rain-suspended semifinal Sunday.

The second-seeded Swiatek, a 22-year-old from Poland, will meet the fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula , a 29-year-old from the United States, on Monday for the trophy at the tour’s season-ending championship. Both players went undefeated during round-robin play and have claimed all eight sets they’ve played on the outdoor hard court in Cancun.

“I feel like it’s still a long way,” Swiatek said, “because tomorrow’s match should be like the toughest one.”

The final was supposed to be held Sunday, but a series of showers throughout the week continued Saturday, when Pegula defeated Coco Gauff in the first semifinal. The second semifinal, Swiatek vs. Sabalenka, was stopped in the fourth game.

Sabalenka surely spoke for everyone involved in the event when she said: “First big question is: What are we doing here in the middle of the hurricane season?”

When they resumed Sunday, Swiatek quickly broke, then moved out to a 4-1 lead and never really looked back.

“I definitely want to give credit to Iga. She adjusted really well in these conditions. And on this court, she was definitely way, way better than me,” Sabalenka said. “She just started putting so much pressure on me.”

Swiatek consistently out-hit the powerful Sabalenka, the runner-up at last year’s WTA Finals, from the baseline and wound up with more winners, 16-13, while also making fewer than half as many unforced errors, 23-10.

Swiatek, a four-time Grand Slam champion, also saved both break points she faced and won three of Sabalenka’s service games.

Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open in January for her first major title, could have guaranteed herself remaining at No. 1 by beating Swiatek. Instead, a victory over Pegula would allow Swiatek to rise from No. 2 to regain the top spot she held from April 2022 to this September, when Sabalenka overtook her.

Swiatek carries a 10-match winning streak into Monday; Pegula has won nine in a row.

And they’ve been dominating their opponents at a tournament for the top eight women in tennis: Swiatek has ceded only 19 games so far — the fewest en route to the final at the WTA Finals since Justine Henin dropped the same number in 2007 — and Pegula just 22.

“Overall, I feel like me and Jessie, we played really in a smart way, and we’ve really kept calm. We’re pretty focused and just taking the most we can from these matches and conditions,” said Swiatek, who is 5-3 head-to-head against Pegula. “So I truly think that we kind of both deserve to be in a final.”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7 – CHAMPIONSHIPS

Doubles championship – 5:30 pm start (1) barbora krejcikova (czech republic) & katerina siniakova (czech republic) vs (4) veronika kudermetova & elise mertens (belgium), singles championship – 8 pm start (6) caroline garcia (france) vs (7) aryna sabalenka, sunday, november 6 – semifinals schedule:, round robin play update:.

The Nancy Richey Singles Group – Wednesday, 11/2, doors open at 2pm:

• Ons Jabeur playing Jessica Pegula
• Maria Sakkari taking on Aryna Sabalenka.

The Tracy Austin Singles Group – Thursday, 11/3, doors open at 2pm:

• Iga Swiatek playing Caroline Garcia
• Coco Gauff taking on Daria Kasatkina

The Nancy Richey Singles Group – Friday, 11/4, doors open at 1:30pm:

• Ons Jabeur playing Maria Sakkari
• Jessica Pegula taking on Aryna Sabalenka.

The Tracy Austin Singles Group – Saturday, 11/5, doors open at 1:30pm:

• Coco Gauff playing Iga Swiatek
• Caroline Garcia taking on Daria Kasatkina

ORDER OF PLAY IS SET FOR MONDAY 10/31 & TUESDAY 11/1

Check out the changeover from Post Malone to Chris Stapleton to WTA Finals.  Dickies Arena is ready to play tennis!!

https://youtu.be/A9qBPOEnmmE

** WTA FINALS – FIELD IS SET **

Dickies Arena will be the site of the WTA Finals (Women’s Tennis Association), bringing the eight best singles players and doubles teams from the 2022 WTA season to Fort Worth for the season-ending championship.  The fields for the event were finalized this past weekend during the regular season finale in Guadalajara.  The tournament will run from Monday, October 31 st through November 7, 2022.

The WTA Finals singles field includes (WTA world ranking in parentheses):

• (No. 1) Iga Swiatek – French Open and US Open champion; Won eight titles in 2022
• (No. 2) Ons Jabeur – Won two titles in 2022; Finalist at Wimbledon, US Open
• (No. 3) Jessica Pegula – American closed regular season with title in Guadalajara last week
• (No. 4) Coco Gauff – 18-year-old American at highest career ranking; French Open finalist
• (No. 5) Maria Sakkari – Four-time finalist in 2022; Clinched last Finals spot last week
• (No. 6) Caroline Garcia – Won three titles this season: Owns 10 for her career
• (No. 7) Aryna Sabalenka – Two-time finalist this season; US Open semifinalist
• (No. 8) Daria Kasatkina – Won a pair of titles in 2022; French Open semifinalist

The WTA Finals doubles qualifiers include:

• Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova – Defending champions; Won three Majors in 2022
• Garbriela Dabrowski & Giuliana Olmos – Claimed one title from three finals this season
• Coco Gauff & Jessica Pegula – Both in singles; Won three titles, reached French Open final; both also qualified in singles
• Veronika Kudermetova & Elise Mertens – Claimed one title from four finals this season
• Lyudmyla Kichenok & Jelena Ostapenko – Won a pair of titles from four finals this season
• Yifan Xu & ZhaoxuanYang – Claimed two titles together in 2022
• Anna Danilina & Beatriz Haddad Maia – Australian Open finalists; Claimed one title in 2022
• Desirae Krawcyk & Demi Schuurs – Reached two finals this season, claiming one title

Join us in the North Club at Dickies Arena for premium full-service dining featuring signature flame-grilled steaks, lite-bite sharables and salads and housemade desserts. Don’t forget to stop by the North Club Bar for incredible views of the action on the court, specialty cocktails and snacks

10/14/22 – Update:  Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula qualify in doubles for 2022 WTA Finals!

10/13/22 – update:  jessica pegula from ny qualifies for 2022 wta finals along with two doubles teams.

Fort Worth will host the prestigious year-end finale, featuring the top 8 singles players and doubles teams in the Race to the WTA Finals Fort Worth, October 31 through November 7th at Dickies Arena !

Ticketing details for the 2022 WTA Finals will be available soon via Ticketmaster.

The intended match schedule plan:

Click here to see the latest standings on the Race to the WTA Finals and here for the updated 2022 WTA Tour calendar.

About the WTA

Founded by Billie Jean King in 1983 on the principle of equal opportunity, the WTA is the global leader in women’s professional sports. The WTA is one of the world’s most recognizable and high-profile sports organizations, consisting of more than 1600 players representing approximately 87 nations, all competing to earn WTA rankings, points and prestigious tournament titles. The Hologic WTA Tour is annually comprised of around 50 events and four Grand Slams, spanning six continents and nearly 30 countries and regions with a global audience of over 900 million. Further information on the WTA can be found at wtatennis.com .

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Tennis Briefing: Is a WTA ‘Big Four’ coming? What’s eating Andrey Rublev?

Welcome to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where The Athletic  will explain the story behind the stories from the last week on court.

This week, the European clay swing kicked off in earnest across the ATP and WTA tours, with tournaments in France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Romania. The four best women’s players faced off in Stuttgart, Barcelona witnessed the return of Rafael Nadal , and we saw a serve from zero gravity.

If you’d like more tennis coverage, please  click here .

Are the WTA and ATP tours swapping their metas?

For the past year, there’s been some chatter about a ‘Big Four’ forming in women’s tennis. It was a ‘Big Three’, comprised of Iga Swiatek , Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka, but then Coco Gauff won the U.S. Open and became a seriously consistent presence in the business end of tournaments, including the semi-finals of the Australian Open. She also climbed to No 3 in the rankings. At the same time, the rapid emergence of Carlos Alcaraz, succeeded by the slower burn of Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev being Daniil Medvedev , and the elastic continuity of Novak Djokovic forged new rivalries on the ATP tour.

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The last few months have thrown a wrench into that thinking. Despite being without a Grand Slam title since last year’s French Open, Swiatek continues to show every sign of being a dominant world No 1 for a good while. The other three haven’t delivered the kind of consistency that would really justify using a name that has its roots in the Roger Federer/Djokovic/Nadal/Andy Murray dominance of the 2010s.

A decade on, it is easy to forget how often those names landed in the last weekends of the biggest events. Consider 2012: of the 16 semi-final spots in that year’s four Grand Slam tournaments, Murray, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic accounted for 12 of them. Murray, Djokovic and Federer also took three of the semi-final spots at the London Olympics that year.

In Stuttgart last week, a rare mid-level tournament to attract the top four women, it looked like they might pull off a semi-final sweep. But then Marketa Vondrousova beat Sabalenka, and Gauff lost to Marta Kostyuk, with Elena Rybakina winning the tournament.

Next up, Madrid. Maybe the quartet will be the last four standing this time.

Tennis’ top women say the sport is broken. This is why

What’s behind Andrey Rublev’s eight-set slump?

Good tennis players can see their form nosedive. Right now, it’s Rublev’s turn .

Rublev was world No 5 at the start of the year. He played to his seeding at the Australian Open, but he has been in a bad way since he was defaulted in the final games of a semi-final match in Dubai against Alexander Bublik in February.

Rublev angrily protested a call to a line judge. Another line judge claimed the Russian had used profanity in his native language.

The tournament officials refused to review tapes before they defaulted Rublev and he was stripped of his ranking points and prize money earned.

The video went viral, and the ATP eventually restored his rankings points and the money he had earned — but the damage had been done. Rublev has won just one match since then, and he has lost to players ranked far lower than he is, including world No 44 Alexei Popyrin and last week, world No 87 Brandon Nakashima, which saw Rublev destroy his racket after losing match point.

The encounters have not been very close either. Rublev has apparently been healthy, but he’s just not playing very well, having dropped eight sets out of 10 since the default in a string of four consecutive defeats.

These stats aren’t awesome, but they aren’t exactly on a decline as steep as his match results. However, take a look at something else…

‘Dominance ratio’ is calculated by dividing the percentage of return points won by the percentage of service points lost. The last time Rublev’s dominance ratio was this low was in 2015, when his ranking high for the year was No 185 in the world and his ranking low was No 438.

Coco Gauff does what Coco Gauff does… for how long?

Gauff gets a ton of accolades for her grit, her competitiveness, her ability to gut out tight matches, especially across three sets.

The American may have all those qualities, but she can also do math.

Gauff has played 25 matches, winning 19 and losing six. Of those 25 matches, eight have gone the distance, and of those eight, she has lost four.

That’s two losses in 17 two-set matches, and four losses in eight three-set matches.

What does all this mean?

Sure, her coach Brad Gilbert is the greatest espouser of winning ugly, but it has to include the “winning” part. Gauff pretty much always shows up, and it’s worth remembering that of those two straight-set defeats, one was against Sabalenka in the Australian Open semi-final.

She could still do with being a bit more clinical. As thrilling as it is to watch Gauff fight , as wild as it is to watch her win matches when she is far from her best, slim margins eventually catch up with players. That’s what happened in Stuttgart against Kostyuk, a player Gauff beat in three sets in Australia but who returned the favour in Germany.

It’s a microcosm of the coin flip that her three-setters have become.

Listening to women: The slow rise of female tennis coaches

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud peak — but at the right time?

Tsitsipas and Ruud are two of the best clay court players in the world. Ruud has made the finals of the last two French Opens. Tsitsipas made the one before that. Unfortunately, their opponents in those finals, Nadal and Djokovic, have won a combined 46 Grand Slam titles, 17 of them at Roland Garros.

Still, Tsitispas and Ruud have earned the right to build their clay seasons to peak at the French Open, because both should be alive deep in the tournament and, depending on how the draw breaks, they might have a shot at winning it too.

The way things are going, they might not have any fuel left in their tanks.

For a second consecutive week, Ruud and Tsitispas met in the finals of a tournament, this time in Barcelona, where Ruud avenged his loss to the Greek in Monte Carlo . It was Ruud’s third event of the clay-court season and Tsitispas’s second, with Madrid and Rome — both competitions just under the level of a Grand Slam — taking up the next four weeks of the calendar before Roland Garros starts. That’s a lot of tennis, even for players in their mid-twenties, such as Ruud and Tsitispas.

Yes, this is the time of year when clay-court standouts try to pile up rankings points and prize money, but is it too much? Djokovic certainly thinks so, at least for him. A master of conserving energy and peaking at the biggest events, Djokovic played Monte Carlo, losing to Ruud in the semis, but he took last week off and has pulled out of Madrid too. He will likely play Rome, then head to Paris — fuel reserves on high.

Kick it, real good

It is a truth universally acknowledged — at least by readers of beloved British children’s author Michael Rosen — that if you can’t go over it or under it, you’ve got to go through it .

Brazil’s raw but rising star Joao Fonseca does not acknowledge this truth.

How high does this go?! 😳 Joao Fonseca's kick serve bounces OVER Sonego 🚀 #TiriacOpen pic.twitter.com/t7X7OOI3CC — Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 16, 2024

Recommended reading:

• Ghosts of clay courts past: Nadal’s comeback is really about his legacy
• Tennis leaders’ crucial London meeting in search for peace — and money
• Netflix and tennis: Why did Break Point fail?

🏆 The winners of the week

🎾  ATP: 

🏆 Casper Ruud def.  Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 6-3 to win the Banc Sabadell Open (500) in Barcelona. It is Ruud’s first ATP title above 250 level. 🏆 Jan-Lennard Struff def.  Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-3 to win the BMW Open (250) in Munich. It is Struff’s first ATP title. 🏆 Marton Fucsovics def.  Mariano Navone 6-4, 7-5 to win the Tiriac Open (250) in Bucharest. It is Fucsovics’ second ATP title.

🏆 Elena Rybakina def.  Marta Kostyuk 6-3, 6-3 to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (500) in Stuttgart, Germany. It is Rybakina’s third title of 2024. 🏆 Sloane Stephens def.  Magda Linette 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 to win the Capfinances Rouen Metropole Open (250) in Rouen, France. It is Stephens’ first title since 2022. 🏆 Suzan Lamens def. Clara Tauson 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 to win the Oeiras Ladies Open (125) in Oeiras, Portugal. In a wild final, Tauson was 0-5 down in the second set before winning seven games in a row but Lamens then recovered from 4-1 down in the third by winning five straight games for the title.

📈📉 On the rise / Down the line

📈 Marta Kostyuk moves up six places from No 27 to No 21. 📈 Marton Fucsovics moves up 29 places from No 82 to No 53. 📈 Magda Linette moves up 12 places from No 60 to No 48.

📉 Carlos Alcaraz remains at No 3, but is dropping 1,000 points, wiping out his gap to Daniil Medvedev at No 4. 📉 Karolina Pliskova drops six places out of the top 50, from No 47 to No 53. 📉 Dan Evans drops 20 places from No 49 to No 69.

📅 Coming up

📍Madrid, Mutua Madrid Open (1000) April 24 — May 5 ft. Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz (..?) Rafael Nadal (..?). 📺 UK: Sky Sports; US: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV 📍Savannah, Savannah Challenger (75) ft. JJ Wolf, Bernard Tomic

📍Madrid, Mutua Madrid Open (1000) April 24 — May 5 ft. Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff. 📺 UK: Sky Sports; US: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV

Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments as the tours continue.

(Top photos: Alex Grimm/Eric Alonso/Robert Prange/Getty Images)

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WTA Finals Tickets On Sale!

The final 8, from baseline to coastline, the world’s best head to cancun, mexico for the 2023 season-ending wta finals. located in the heart of the mexican caribbean, the final 8 singles players and doubles teams will face off from october 29 - november 5 for the ultimate prize on the hologic wta tour. for ticket information, click here ., sign up for ticket news.

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Shiffrin, Vonn congratulate Swiatek after WTA Finals win

Week in Review: Swiatek on top of the world

Siegemund and Zvonareva reflect on their Cinderella run in Cancun

A WTA Finals champ, the World No.1 and another Iga Swiatek masterclass

Swiatek, Siegemund & Zvonareva crowned champions at WTA Finals Cancun

Swiatek tops Pegula for WTA Finals title, regains No.1 ranking

Siegemund and Zvonareva storm to WTA Finals doubles title

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