ST. PETERSBURG, FL, USA – The WTA announced today that World No.3 Karolina Pliskova has qualified for the 2021 Akron WTA Finals Guadalajara, becoming the fourth player to secure her place at the year-end finale.
Pliskova, from the Czech Republic, joins Ashleigh Barty, Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejcikova who have also secured qualification, leaving four singles spots up for grabs. In addition, Katerina Siniakova, along with partner Krejcikova, and the all-Japanese pairing of Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara have qualified in doubles.
Pliskova has reached the semifinal stage in her last three outings at the WTA Finals from 2017-19, and this year will mark her fifth consecutive appearance at the year-end finale. Only four active players have competed in more WTA Finals, these being Serena Williams (9), Kim Clijsters (7), Petra Kvitova (7) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (6). In Pliskova’s WTA Finals debut in 2016, she qualified in both singles and doubles alongside Germany’s Julia Goerges.
“I’m very proud to qualify for the WTA Finals for the fifth time,” said Pliskova. “Playing at the WTA Finals means you are one of the best of the season and that is always the goal. I look forward to competing and experiencing the city of Guadalajara.”
Pliskova, who leads the Tour in aces with 381, has earned her spot in Guadalajara after reaching three finals this season on three different surfaces – on clay at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (Rome), on the grass of The Championships, Wimbledon, at the National Bank Open on hard court (Montréal).
With four qualification spots in singles remaining for the WTA Finals, Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza took a huge step towards securing one of them courtesy of winning the Chicago Fall Tennis Classic over the weekend. Muguruza defeated Ons Jabeur in Sunday’s final to move up two spots to No.6 on the Porsche Race to the WTA Finals, and is now only six points behind Maria Sakkari who occupies the No.5 position.
In doubles, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Demi Schuurs boosted their qualification claims by reaching the semifinals in Chicago to cement their place at No.3. Daria Jurak and Andreja Klepac, who also reached the last four in Chicago, climb one place to No.8.
Guadalajara is playing host to the season-ending tournament for this year only, with the event returning to its home in Shenzhen, China in 2022.
The 2021 WTA Finals features the top 8 singles players and doubles teams on the Porsche Race to the WTA Finals – which includes 51 WTA tournaments and four Grand Slams, competing in a round-robin format with the singles champion lifting the WTA Finals Billie Jean King Trophy and the doubles champions earning the WTA Finals Martina Navratilova Trophy.
The Porsche Race to the WTA Finals Leaderboard is updated each Monday and can be found here.
