Krejcikova secures top seed in Zhuhai; remaining spots decided this week

With the WTA Finals field confirmed, the lineup for the WTA Elite Trophy tournament in Zhuhai is starting to come together. Nine out of the 11 direct entry players have been confirmed for the year-end tournament, which will take place from October 24th to 29th in Zhuhai.

Zhuhai’s top seed will be Barbora Krejcikova, who had an impressive 2023 season with four singles finals under her belt. Among the players, only Iga Swiatek (7) and Aryna Sabalenka (6) have reached more singles finals than Krejcikova. She secured titles at WTA 1000 Dubai and San Diego, and was a runner-up at Birmingham and Zhengzhou last week.

Joining Krejcikova in Zhuhai will be Madison Keys, Jelena Ostapenko, Liudmila Samsonova, Veronika Kudermetova, Daria Kasatkina, Beatriz Haddad Maia, Zheng Qinwen, and Caroline Garica. Among the current participants, Keys (Eastbourne), Kudermetova (Tokyo), Ostapenko (Birmingham), and Zheng (Palermo, Zhengzhou) have all won titles this year.

The final two direct entry spots will be determined by the performances of Donna Vekic, Magda Linette, and Soran Cirstea in Cluj-Napoca and Nanchang this week.

The remaining two spots are up for grabs between Donna Vekic, Magda Linette, and Sorana Cirstea.

• Cirstea needs to win the title in Cluj-Napoca to qualify for Zhuhai.
• Linette will secure a spot if she reaches the quarterfinals in Nanchang or if Cirstea loses a match in Cluj-Napoca.
• Vekic will clinch a spot if Cirstea loses in Cluj-Napoca or if Linette fails to reach the Nanchang quarterfinals.

The tournament will feature 11 of the top-ranked players on the tour and one wild card, all competing for a prize money pool of $2.4 million. The competition will take place in a round-robin format, with the top four singles players advancing to the semifinals.

Two doubles teams secure qualification

Two additional doubles teams have qualified for the WTA Finals in Cancun. Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe secured their spot by winning the title in Zhengzhou. Nicole Melichar Martinez and Ellen Perez also secured their place in the WTA Finals, leaving one spot open.

The final spot will go to either Leylah Fernandez and Taylor Townsend or Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva, who will need to win the title in Nanchang to seal their qualification.

In addition to the doubles field updates, Krejcikova has secured the spot as the second alternate at the WTA Finals, surpassing Madison Keys.