ST PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The WTA announced Friday that Maria Sakkari has qualified for the 2022 WTA Finals. She becomes the eighth and final singles player to secure her place in the season-ending tournament in Fort Worth.
Sakkari will be making her second appearance at the WTA Finals. In 2021, she became the first Greek woman to qualify for the event, reaching the semifinals. Sakkari will join World No.1 Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Caroline Garcia, Aryna Sabalenka and Daria Kasatkina in the singles draw.
Steve Simon, WTA Chairman & CEO said: “The 2022 WTA Finals is set to be one of our most exciting year-end finales to date and we are thrilled for the Finals to return to the US for the first time since 2005.
"Athletes representing five different continents will be competing in singles and doubles, highlighting the truly global nature of the Hologic WTA Tour. The combination of our emerging stars and established champions will treat fans to a thrilling week in Fort Worth, bringing the curtain down on another fantastic WTA season.”
Sakkari has reached three finals this season, contesting the title match at the WTA 1000 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, WTA 500 St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy and the WTA 250 Parma Ladies Open. Her qualification hopes were boosted further by semifinal runs at the WTA 1000 Qatar TotalEnergies Open (Doha), WTA 500 bett1open (Berlin). Sakkari is currently through to the semifinals at this week's Guadalajara Open Akron, a WTA 1000 event.
Sakkari broke into the Top 5 for the first time and reach a career-high ranking of No.3 on March 21.
The 2022 WTA Finals features the Top 8 singles players and doubles teams on the Race to the WTA Finals. They will compete 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.
Click here to see the latest Race to the WTA Finals leaderboard.
Buy your tickets for 2022 WTA Finals via Ticketmaster.
