How about this for a frantic, fantastic finish to the Hologic WTA Tour regular season?
With one week left, a single tournament -- the Guadalajara Open Akron -- will determine the majority of the singles field at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth. With three players qualified (Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur and Jessica Pegula), five spots remain.
Seventeen players are still mathematically alive -- and all of them are competing in this 1000-level event that begins Monday. Remembering that this is a fluid situation and other results have an impact on each player’s chances, here’s a breakdown of what they need to do stay in contention:
The next five spots currently belong to:
4. Coco Gauff: Secures qualification by winning her opening match, against the winner of Anastasia Potapova and a qualifier.
5. Aryna Sabalenka
6. Caroline Garcia
7. Daria Kasatkina
9. Veronika Kudermetova
***No.8 Simona Halep is out for the season
Outside looking in:
10. Maria Sakkari: Needs to win her opening match against either Marta Kostyuk or Aliaksandra Sasnovich to move into contention.
Needs to reach semifinal:
11. Paula Badosa
12. Belinda Bencic
13. Madison Keys
Needs to reach final:
14. Danielle Collins
17. Petra Kvitova
Needs to win the title:
16. Beatriz Haddad Maia
18. Ekaterina Alexandrova
19. Jelena Ostapenko
20. Barbora Krejcikova
21. Elena Rybakina
22. Liudmila Samsonova
