WASHINGTON, D.C. — While it feels like things are just beginning to heat up on the Hologic WTA Tour, the reality is that we’re in the home stretch.
As of Thursday, there are exactly 100 days left before the PIF WTA Finals return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Yes, at the century mark, the clock is ticking. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is already in, but the Race to Riyadh — eight singles players and eight doubles teams will be invited — is, well, congested.
Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff, winners of the past two Grand Slam singles titles, are closing in, while the likes of Amanda Anisimova, Elina Svitolina and Belinda Bencic jostle for position in a tightening chase with little room for error.
The rest of the field? Still sorting itself out, with tight margins, a volatile cutoff line and one Grand Slam rule that could shake up the final eight.
The WTA Finals qualification format includes the Top 7 players on the Race to the WTA Finals leaderboard, plus the highest-ranked Grand Slam champion ranked between No. 8 and No. 20. If no Slam champ fits that criteria, the eighth spot defaults to the next player on the leaderboard.
The deets (you need to know)
- Sabalenka leads the field with 7,395 points and has already locked her place in Riyadh.
- Swiatek, this year’s Wimbledon champion, sits at No. 2 with 5,983 and barring a major slide, would qualify for the fifth straight year.
- Swiatek and Sabalenka remain the frontrunners in the year-end No.1 race, though Sabalenka remains a healthy 1,412 points ahead.
Gauff on track to defend
- Coco Gauff is third with 4,609 points and on track to return to the Finals after winning the title last year in Riyadh.
- A second straight appearance would position her to become the first back-to-back WTA Finals winner since Serena Williams (2012–2014).
- Gauff had her Slam breakthrough in New York the year before, but it was Riyadh where she showed she could finish a season on top.
Middle tier: Four players separated by 805 points
- Madison Keys (No. 4): 4,105 points … In her 46th major, she finally broke through with an unlooked for title.
- Mirra Andreeva (No. 5): 4,024 points … Became the youngest ever to win a WTA 1000 event, in Dubai, then backed it up with a win at Indian Wells.
- Amanda Anisimova (No. 6): 3,453 points … A winner at the WTA 1000 in Doha, Anisimova reached her first Grand Slam final recently at Wimbledon.
- Jessica Pegula (No. 7): 3,300 points … Owner of three titles this year (Austin, Charleston and Bad Homburg) — on three different surfaces.
- One deep run at a WTA 1000 or the US Open could fundamentally alter that order — and with Keys winning a Slam, she has the Grand Slam safety net into the final eight if she finishes Top 20.
Cutoff pressure: Paolini in front, for now
- Jasmine Paolini (No. 8): 2,736 points … Earlier this spring, she became the first Italian to win in Rome in four decades.
- Elena Rybakina (No. 9): 2,536 points … A winner in Strasbourg, looking to regain the form that dominated Wimbledon three years ago.
- Elina Svitolina (No. 10): 2,371 points … Super consistent, she’s won 32 matches already this year, including the title in Rouen and the quarterfinals at Roland Garros.
- Ekaterina Alexandrova (No. 11): 2,241 points … Your Linz 500 champion is looking for her first year-end qualification.
- Emma Navarro (No. 12): 2,176 points … The champion in Merida is trying to back up her first year-end Top 10 ranking and WTA Most Improved Player award.
- Belinda Bencic (No. 13): 2,084 points … Won the title in Abu Dhabi, marking a dramatic comeback after giving birth.
- That’s just a 652-point spread from No. 8 to No. 13, and plenty of runway left with four WTA 1000s and the US Open still to come.
Can Svitolina pull off a full-circle return?
- The 2018 WTA Finals champion hasn’t qualified since her win.
- If she makes it back, it would be her first appearance in seven years, the longest gap between Finals appearances since Serena Williams (2001–2009). After winning the final in Rouen, Svitolina improved her record in finals to a remarkable 18-4.
- Kim Clijsters also returned to win after a seven-year gap between titles (2003 to 2010).
Andreeva pushing toward elite company
- At just 18, Mirra Andreeva has already cracked the Top 5 in the Race.
- She’s tracking to become one of the youngest players this century to qualify for the WTA Finals, joining names like Gauff, Wozniacki and Sharapova.
- After winning the title in Indian Wells, Andreeva reprised a line from Doha — and Snoop Dogg’s Hollywood Walk of Fame acceptance speech, saying, “I would again like to thank myself for fighting until the end and for always believing in me and for never quitting.”
A comeback worth remembering, and a comeback that may not happen
- Last year’s WTA Finals ended with Gauff rallying past Zheng Qinwen 3–6, 6–4, 7–6(2) in a tense three-hour final in Riyadh. Gauff came from a set down, trailed 2–0 and 5–3 in the third, and was two points from defeat before winning the match in a tiebreak.
- It was a breakthrough moment: Gauff, 20 at the time, became the youngest champion since Maria Sharapova in 2004, the first American to win the event since Serena Williams in 2014, and earned a record $4.8 million in prize money. Along the way, she also beat the top two players in the world, Sabalenka and Swiatek.
- As for Zheng, last year’s runner-up is facing a difficult 2025. After undergoing elbow surgery, she has withdrawn from all upcoming events, including the US Open, and sits at No. 16 in the Race. Her return timeline is uncertain, and with limited points left on the table when she does come back, another Finals appearance this year would require a near-miracle.