ISTANBUL, Turkey - Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova have secured the final spot in the doubles field of the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, to be hosted at the state of the art Sinan Erdem Arena in one week.
King and Shvedova join Kveta Peschke & Katarina Srebotnik, Liezel Huber & Lisa Raymond and Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta in the four-team draw.
"I'd like to congratulate Vania and Yaroslava on qualifying for the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships. They came very close to winning their third Grand Slam doubles title at the US Open, and it will be great to see them back for the second successive year," said Stacey Allaster, Chairman & CEO of the WTA.
"We are very excited and proud to be going to the Championships for the second time," King commented. "We didn't think at the beginning of the year that we would be in this position but we've had a very solid season and hopefully cemented ourselves at the top. We know that we still have to work hard and improve, and we hope that we can go far in the Championships."
King and Shvedova started playing together in June 2010 and following back-to-back Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the US Open qualified for their first Championships last year. Their 2011 season has been highlighted by their third WTA title in Cincinnati and three more finals (including the US Open).
The WTA's year-end finale will feature the Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams competing for the coveted title and a share of $5 million in prize money. The WTA and Turkish Tennis Federation's goal is to deliver the best finale in history to fans of women's tennis in Turkey and all over the world.
Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, Li Na, Vera Zvonareva and Samantha Stosur are already in the singles field.
Agnieszka Radwanska and Marion Bartoli are contesting the eighth and final singles spot in the finale, but it is an uphill battle for Bartoli - she needs to follow up her Osaka title with this week's Moscow title, and she will also require Radwanska to fall before the quarterfinals of Moscow this week. Whichever of the two doesn't make the cut will join Andrea Petkovic as the two alternates.
