Kamakshi Tandon 10y

Quest to make WTA Finals field

Tennis

The chase is on for the WTA Finals, with the best performers competing to get into the eight-player field in the season finale at Singapore. With four weeks of tournaments to go, the field is starting to shape up.

No. 7 Li Na has announced her retirement, which means anyone who finishes ninth or higher will be guaranteed to get into the event officially known as the WTA Finals. With 2,650 points still up for grabs, anyone in the top 34 could still theoretically make it if she plays and wins four tournaments in a row, but practically speaking, only the top 12 have much opportunity.

The tournaments

Every player in the top 20 is scheduled to be in action in China the next two weeks, where a total of 1,900 points are available, including 1,000 points to the winner of next week's event in Beijing. The week after that sees three smaller International events (in Linz, Austria; Osaka, Japan; and Tianjin, China) at which the winner will get 280 points, and about half the top 20 is expected to be in action at one of the three events. Then comes another International event, at Luxembourg, that coincides with a Premier event in Moscow at which the winner gets 470 points, and about two-thirds of the top 20 are expected to be in action that week.

Most of the field should be settled by the big events -- the losing finalist at Beijing, for example, will get 650 points for reaching the final, and the 390 points for the semifinals and 215 points for the quarterfinals are almost the same as winning a smaller title. But if it does come down to the smaller events, players have been known to take wild cards in an attempt to qualify or, alternately, to withdraw if they have secured a position.

The contenders

Although only three players have officially qualified, four others are almost there, and most of the competition is for the eighth and final position.

1. Serena Williams 6,391*

2. Maria Sharapova 5, 575*

3. Simona Halep 5,189*

4. Agnieszka Radwanska 4,377

5. Ana Ivanovic 4,060

6. Petra Kvitova 4,049

[7. Li Na -- retired ]

8. Eugenie Bouchard 3,901

9. Caroline Wozniacki 3,795

10. Angelique Kerber 3,370

11. Dominika Cibulkova 2,909

12. Ekaterina Makarova 2,900

13. Sara Errani 2,795

14. Jelena Jankovic 2,765

15. Flavia Pennetta 2,568

16. Andrea Petkovic 2,400

17. Carla Suarez Navarro 2,350

18. Lucie Safarova 2,341

19. Venus Williams 2,151

* officially qualified as of Sept. 23

Officially qualified

Serena Williams is way in front of the field, with a Grand Slam victory as well as several smaller tournament victories this season. Sharapova is at No. 2 and has also won a Slam, extending her lead on the others. Halep's consistency and better performance in the big events this year have put the Romanian up there, as well.

4. Agnieszka Radwanska, 5. Ana Ivanovic: All but qualified

These two could potentially be caught by another player who has a big result at Beijing, but it would take three or four players just behind all doing well enough to knock them from the top eight spots. That is not likely, so both are expected to be in Singapore for the Finals. Radwanska, in particular, should expect to officially qualify after Beijing despite an opening-round exit this week. Ivanovic has leaped up after her title in Tokyo and looks likely to get in, as well.

6. Petra Kvitova, 8. Eugenie Bouchard: Well-positioned

They have a decent lead on the field, so some consistent performances in the next few weeks would let them qualify. But consistency is a challenge for Kvitova, and Bouchard has dropped back a bit since reaching the Wimbledon final. If two or more players just behind them do well this week in Wuhan or next week in Beijing, they could find themselves pushed down. But the Wimbledon champion, Kvitova, is playing Moscow, and Bouchard is playing Linz and Luxembourg, so they will also have the opportunity to regain ground.

9. Caroline Wozniacki: Getting closer

She needs to win a few more matches. Reaching the Tokyo final gave Wozniacki an edge in what had been a neck-and-neck contest with Angelique Kerber. Now she has to stay in front, which means being within a round or so of the German and those behind at the next few tournaments. If she can play the way she has since Wimbledon, that shouldn't be a problem. She has reached at least the semifinal of almost every event since.

10. Angelique Kerber: Needs a run at one tournament

Kerber will be looking to make up more than 500 points on Wozniacki, which means reaching a final at one of the big events or winning one of the smaller ones while Wozniacki does little. And if Wozniacki does well, she could get too far in front to be caught.

11. Dominika Cibulkova 12. Ekaterina Makarova, 13. Sara Errani, 14. Jelena Jankovic: Need a big result

Cibulkova and Makarova need to make up about 800 points, and Errani and Jankovic about 1,000 points, which means winning a title in the next two weeks or reaching a final in China and winning Moscow. That's a lot to ask.

15. Flavia Pennetta, 16. Andrea Petkovic, 17. Carla Suarez Navarro, 18. Lucie Safarova, 19. Venus Williams: Need two big results

They are almost 1,400 points behind, which means two titles will be required to catch up. That almost eliminates them, especially Venus Williams, who is scheduled to play only in the Beijing event.

Reaching the WTA Finals is often a season-long goal for the players, lending a little extra impetus to the post-US Open season. This will be the first year the event is played in Singapore, where a large new facility is being used for the tournament. Identifying exactly who will be playing there, however, is going to take a little longer.

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