Everything you need to know about the 2023 Beijing final

BEIJING -- No.2 Iga Swiatek and No.22 Liudmila Samsonova will face off at the China Open for the last WTA 1000 title of the season.

Here's what you need to know about Sunday's showdown:

When is the women's final?

The finals will be played on Sunday, Oct. 8. The doubles final, which will pit Marie Bouzkova and Sara Sorribes Tormo against Chan Hao-Ching and Giuliana Olmos, will be played at 4:30 p.m.

The singles final will follow at 7:30 p.m.

The case for the Beijing finalists: Can Samsonova upset Swiatek?

What are the points and prize money at stake?

Both Swiatek and Samsonova have assured themselves 650 points and $780,000 for making the final. With World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka losing in the quarterfinal stage, Swiatek has closed the point gap, thus tightening the battle for year-end No.1, which will be decided at the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico.  

With focus on the future, Swiatek in no rush to reclaim No.1 ranking

With her run to a second WTA 1000 final of the season, Samsonova has assured herself a return to the Top 20 on Monday. A title would see her eclipse her career-high ranking of No.12 to leave Beijing at No.11. 

The winner will leave with 1,000 points and $1,324,000 in prize money. 

How did Swiatek and Samsonova get here?

Coming off a quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Veronika Kudermetova in Tokyo last week, Swiatek has lost just one set en route to her third WTA 1000 final of the season. She lost just 14 games across her first three matches, with wins against Sara Sorribes Tormo, Varvara Gracheva, and her compatriot Magda Linette.

Swiatek's toughest test came in the quarterfinals against No.10 Caroline Garcia. The 2017 Beijing champion came within two points of the win twice, but Swiatek held her off to post a 6-7(8), 7-6(2), 6-1 victory. In the quarterfinals, Swiatek snapped US Open champion Coco Gauff's 16-match win streak, winning 6-2, 6-3 to avenge her loss to the American in the Cincinnati semifinals.

Unseeded in Beijing, Samsonova has come through a tough draw to drop just one set. After straight-set wins over Alycia Parks and Petra Kvitova, Samsonova defeated Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-5 in the Round of 16. She followed that win with straight-set wins over 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko and fifth seed Rybakina. 

Samsonova's win over Rybakina was her third Top 5 win of the season and extended her dominance over the Kazakh player to 4-0. She has now made the semifinals or better at three of her past six events.

How do they stack up?

Swiatek owns a 2-0 record against Samsonova, having beaten her in both clay and hard court. Their first meeting was a memorable one, with Swiatek winning 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 in the 2022 Stuttgart semifinals. 

Their last meeting was one-way traffic, with Swiatek losing just one game earlier this year in Dubai. 

What's at stake?

Swiatek currently leads the tour with 62 match-wins this season and is tied with Gauff for the most titles on tour with four, having won Doha, Stuttgart, Roland Garros and Warsaw. A win on Sunday would give her the outright lead in titles and make her the first player to win five or more titles in back-to-back seasons since Serena Williams in 2015 and 2016. 

She is also bidding to win at least one WTA 1000 title for a third consecutive season.

After losing the No.1 ranking after the US Open, Swiatek came into the tournament trailing Aryna Sabalenka by 1,305 points on the Race to the WTA Finals leaderboard. A win on Sunday would cut Sabalenka's lead down to 630 points.

Samsonova is bidding to win the biggest title of her career and fifth overall. She is looking to match her best win by ranking, which came with a victory over then-No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in Montreal this year.

What are they saying? 

Samsonova: "I liked a lot the way that I stepped on the court in Stuttgart against her because I stepped like, I'm playing against the No.1, so let's see and let's try to do my best. No pressure, nothing. That was the key. At the end I was trying to do my best, that's all. When I'm mentally like that, I can play my best tennis."

Swiatek: "For sure at this tournament I feel like I'm serving better. I had matches during this season where I felt like I was serving great, and I wish I had that kind of form in terms of my serve every match. It was up and down.

"For sure on this tournament, it's working. I don't know exactly why. I'm trying to serve the best way possible in every tournament. I feel like, overall, I'm more loosened up. I feel more free. Everything is a little bit easier than on past tournaments."

Samsonova: "I think my serve and return will be the key tomorrow because she plays very aggressive on the first shot. The key, it can be to do it better than her. I will try to push as I did all these matches here, to be really, really aggressive."

Swiatek: "I feel like I'm playing a pretty consistent way throughout the whole season. I already played many finals. It's not like I'm treating it as a different match. I still want to do the same work."