Editor's note: This week, we looked at the road each of the eight singles players and eight doubles teams took to qualify for this year's GNP Seguros WTA Finals Cancun in Mexico.

Singles

Monday: No.1 Sabalenka | No.2 Swiatek

Tuesday: No.3 Gauff | No.4 Rybakina

Wednesday: No.5 Pegula | No.6 Jabeur

Thursday: No. 7 Vondrousova | No.8 Sakkari 

Doubles

Monday: No.1 Gauff and Pegula | No.2 Hunter and Mertens

Tuesday: No.3 Aoyama and Shibahara | No.4 Krejcikova and Siniakova

Wednesday: No.5 Krawczyk and Schuurs | No.6 Siegemund and Zvonareva

Thursday: No.7 Dabrowski and Routliffe | No.8 Melichar-Martinez and Perez

Marketa Vondrousova: Season at a glance

Marketa Vondrousova's peak form led her to the 2019 Roland Garros final as a teenager, as well as the 2021 Olympic silver medal. But each time the left-handed Czech got on a roll, injuries curtailed her momentum. Last year, Vondrousova was off tour for six months after her second wrist surgery.

"I had a cast last year at [this] time," Vondrousova said at this year's Wimbledon. "I was a tourist here."

This year, Vondrousova played a season from start to finish. The results speak for themselves -- she is now a Grand Slam champion and one of the Top 8 players competing at the WTA Finals.

To begin the year, Vondrousova made the Adelaide quarterfinals, beat Ons Jabeur at the Australian Open and made the Linz semifinals in her first three events.

This was an important start. Despite having to defend the bulk of her rankings points in the first quarter of 2023, those results let Vondrousova keep her ranking hovering around No.100. By springtime, she was free and clear to start climbing the ladder again.

When Wimbledon rolled around, Vondrousova was up to No.42 and had just reached her first grass-court quarterfinal in Berlin. Was that enough of an improvement to make a dent at the grass-court major?

Season highlights:

  • Won first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon -- the first unseeded ladies' singles champion in the Open Era
  • Made Top 10 debut after Wimbledon and peaked at a career-high No.6
  • Improved ranking nearly 100 spots during the season after dipping to No.105 in March
  • Reached quarterfinals at the US Open and WTA 1000 Cincinnati for first time

It was. Vondrousova beat three Top 20 seeds along the way to her second major final, her confidence growing with every win. She faced a familiar foe in the final -- last year's Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur. Tellingly, Vondrousova had already beaten Jabeur twice in 2023.

On the lawns of London, Vondrousova did it again, upsetting Jabeur to win her first Grand Slam. She became the lowest-ranked woman to win Wimbledon in the Open Era.

"When I was coming back, I didn't know what's going to happen, if I can play at that level again," Vondrousova said after capturing the Wimbledon title. "I was just like, 'Try to win a couple of matches.' Now this happened, it's crazy."

Vondrousova made her Top 10 debut after Wimbledon, and she backed up her Slam by making her first career US Open quarterfinal. That was an 11-match winning streak at Grand Slam events.

"It means everything, because after Wimby, the first tournaments, I was feeling nervous," Vondrousova said at the US Open. "I wanted to play good. I wanted to win some back-to-back matches. ... I'm just very grateful to be here."

After a career-best season, the 24-year-old Vondrousova was rewarded with her WTA Finals debut.