The Final Battle for the Best Women's Tennis Players at the WTA Finals

RIYADH, SATURDAY - After ten months of competition in the WTA Tour series, eight of the best female tennis players, both in singles and doubles, have emerged to compete for one remaining title at the end of the season. With no player dominating throughout 2025, including the world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, the WTA Finals competition is open for anyone to win.

Sabalenka has qualified for the WTA Final for the fifth consecutive time as the top-ranked player on the WTA Final ranking list. This list is compiled based on the results from the WTA Tour tournaments throughout 2025, differing from the world ranking which is calculated from the results of the past 52 weeks.

In addition to Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek has also qualified for the fifth consecutive time. At the age of 24, Swiatek becomes the youngest player to qualify for the WTA Finals for five consecutive years since Victoria Azarenka, 12 years ago. Swiatek's best result in this tournament was when she became the champion in 2023.

Among the eight women's singles players who will compete in Riyadh, Swiatek is the player with the most victories this year, achieving 61 wins out of 76 matches. Sabalenka's statistics are not far off, with 59 wins and 11 losses.

Sabalenka and Swiatek occupy the top two seeds, placing them in separate groups during the preliminary phase. Sabalenka will compete against Jasmine Paolini, Jessica Pegula, and the defending champion, Cori Gauff, in the Steffi Graf Group. Meanwhile, Swiatek joins Elena Rybakina, Madison Keys, and debutant Amanda Anisimova in the Serena Williams Group.

Additionally, eight women's doubles players also began their competition in the group stage using a round-robin format. Like the singles players, they were divided into two groups to compete for the top two spots to advance to the semifinals. Paolini was among the doubles players, making her the only player competing in both events.

Paolini will begin her appearance in women's doubles alongside Sara Errani to face Asia Muhammad/Demi Schuurs on Saturday (1/11/2025) evening Indonesian time. Meanwhile, the competition in the singles sector will start with the match between Swiatek and Keys, followed by Anisimova against Rybakina.

Swiatek leads 5-2 against Keys, but they have each secured one victory in their two meetings this year. Keys defeated Swiatek in the semifinals of the Australian Open Grand Slam earlier this year when Swiatek had her best chance to win at Melbourne Park for the first time. Keys' journey in the Grand Slam at the start of this competitive season concluded with a championship title, marking her first title in the Grand Slam arena.

In the 2025 season, Keys seemed to be reborn. She reached the final of the Australian Open after making her first Grand Slam final appearance at the 2017 US Open. Winning the Australian Open placed Keys at fifth in the world rankings, her highest position since competing in the professional tennis arena in 2009.

However, after the Australian Open, Keys' performance in the next three Grand Slams declined. In front of her home crowd, she was eliminated in the first round of the US Open.

The next three Grand Slam tournaments were won by different tennis players: Coco (short for Cori Gauff) at the French Open, Swiatek (Wimbledon), and Sabalenka (US Open). This record serves as an indicator of how balanced the competition in women's singles is.

Swiatek and Coco concluded their appearances at the Grand Slam arena in 2025 with disappointing results. After winning Wimbledon for the first time, Swiatek lost in the quarterfinals of the US Open.

The results obtained by Coco were worse. After winning the French Open, which was her second Grand Slam title following the US Open 2023, Coco was eliminated in the first round of Wimbledon and the fourth round of the US Open.

Despite winning the WTA 1000 Wuhan, October 6-12, the final tournament before the WTA Finals, it won't be easy for Coco to defend her WTA Finals title. As in previous years, Coco continues to struggle with serving issues. She has the most double faults (405) in WTA statistics, far surpassing second-place Ekaterina Alexandrova with 297.

His consistency cannot be underestimated. He is always a favorite to win on any surface, especially hard courts.

In addition to Sabalenka, who has reached the Grand Slam final three times, including winning the US Open, Anisimova is a participant to watch out for. She arrived in Riyadh after being a finalist in the last two Grand Slams, namely Wimbledon and the US Open, along with a championship title from the WTA 1000 Beijing. Anisimova could be the "dark horse" in the Serena Williams Group.

"After going through a lot of hardships and bad moments in her life, this year has been a good one for Amanda. She reminds me of Lindsay Davenport. Her shots are very powerful and accurate on both the forehand and backhand," former world number one Martina Navratilova commented on Anisimova on the official WTA website.

Meanwhile, although Sabalenka only managed to win a Grand Slam at the end of the competition season, Navratilova believes that the 2022 WTA Finals finalist is the most favored to win. Three Grand Slam finals are considered an indicator of Sabalenka's consistent performance.

"Its consistency cannot be underestimated. She has always been a favorite champion on any type of court, especially on hard courts," said Navratilova, who won the WTA Finals eight times from the late 1970s to the 1980s.

As the female tennis players prepare for the WTA Finals competition this week, the male tennis players are still competing for a spot in the ATP Finals, which will take place in Turin, Italy, from November 9 to 16. The results of the ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinals on Friday have left only one ticket available for the ATP Finals to be contested.

Ben Shelton and Alex De Minaur lost in the quarterfinals, but the points they earned were sufficient to qualify them for Turin. Both will join Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, and Taylor Fritz.

One more ticket is likely to belong to Felix Auger-Aliassime, who will compete in the semifinals against Alexander Bublik in Paris. The other semifinal will feature Sinner and the defending champion, Zverev.

As top world tennis players conclude the competitive season by participating in the WTA Finals, other players take advantage of the remaining tournaments to increase their ranking points. Indonesian players, Janice Tjen and Aldila Sutjiadi, made good use of this opportunity during their participation in the WTA 250 in Chennai, India.

Tjen, who began competing on the WTA Tour this year, will participate in the semifinals in two categories on Saturday. In singles, the player, seeded fourth, will face Thai tennis player Lanlana Tararudee. Tjen will enter this match after defeating 17-year-old Slovakian player Mia Pohankova, 6-3, 6-1, in the quarterfinals on Friday.

After having sufficient rest, Tjen will return to the court to team up with her senior, Aldila. The second-seeded women's doubles pair will face the Indian duo, Riya Bhatia/Rutuja Bhosale. They are competing in the first semifinal of the WTA Tour women's doubles after winning against another local player, Vaishnavi Adkar/Maaya Rajeshwaran Rehathi, with a score of 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

For Tjen, the match this Saturday marks her second semifinal in the singles category of the WTA Tour after reaching the final of the WTA 250 Sao Paulo, held from September 8 to 14. Tjen's opportunity to win at that time was halted by Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah from Thailand.

In the doubles category, Tjen has already secured one WTA Tour championship title from the WTA 250 tournament in Guangzhou, held from October 20 to 26. She achieved this while partnering with Polish player, Kataryzna Piter. (AFP)