The WTA Finals brings the curtain down on the 2023 campaign with the eight highest-ranked female players competing for the title in the Mexican city of Cancun, getting underway on Sunday 29th October and finishing on Sunday 5th November.
After the four Grand Slam events - the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open - the WTA Finals is regarded as the most lucrative prize on the women’s tour and a strong field has been assembled.
Newly-crowned world number one Aryna Sabalenka was runner-up to Caroline Garcia in last year’s season-closing event and she spearheads the eight-strong line-up alongside Polish phenomenon Iga Swiatek.
US Open champion Coco Gauff, 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina and the in-form Jessica Pegula, who won the Korea Open earlier this month, are also in action.
The field is completed by Ons Jabeur, Marketa Vondrousova and Karolina Muchova and that octet will be split into two groups of four, with the players facing three matches in a round-robin format.
The top two players from each group advance to the semi-finals and, although the draw is yet to be announced, a strong opinion can still be formed with everyone involved determined to go out on a high.
- 2pts Iga Swiatek to win the WTA Finals
- 1pt Jessica Pegula to win the WTA Finals
Polish Phenomenon Favourite
One guarantee at the WTA Finals this year is a new champion will be crowned as none of those involved have been fortunate to yet claim the prize, and it could go the way of Swiatek.
The WTA Finals doesn’t always go to the best player as a long season may have taken its toll and that has been evident in recent years with Garcia stunning Sabalenka in last season’s final and Garbine Muguruza beating Anett Kontaveit to the title in 2021.
However, Swiatek was a winner in Beijing when last seen at the beginning of October and having her world number one status taken off her by Sabalenka should have fuelled the fire.
The Pole is preferred to Sabalenka, who was beaten by Rybakina in the quarter-final of that tournament in Beijing, and the form of that title triumph looks particularly strong.
The 22-year-old dropped only one set across her six competition wins and she made light work of Gauff in her semi-final success, breezing to a 6-2 6-3 success.
When in her groove, four-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek can be utterly dominant and she should be a strong favourite to clinch a sixth title of the campaign.
Vondrousova has played only one competitive game since making the quarter-final of the US Open and she was beaten in three sets in Beijing on that occasion by Ahelina Kalinina, so she can be passed over.
Jabeur won a title in Ningbo, China, at the end of September but she was an early casualty in Beijing and then was forced to withdraw from competition in Zhengzhou, making her look vulnerable.
With Muchova coming into this tournament potentially undercooked having been sidelined since making the semi-final of the US Open, Swiatek’s biggest challenge may come from Pegula.
The American may have a habit of falling short in Grand Slam events but otherwise she is a model of consistency and, having finished runner-up in the Japan Open earlier this month, she built on that by going one better in Korea.
That means Pegula, who also claimed silverware in Montreal in the middle of August, has lost only four of her last 21 matches and on her day she has a game that can match it with anyone.
