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WTA FINALS DRAW CREATES FASCINATING HEADLINES



The 2024 WTA Finals draw has generated multiple intriguing headlines as the top-eight women's seeds in singles and doubles compete for one of tennis' top honours.


For the first time in WTA Finals history, the tournament will be hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a 69.44 per cent increase in prize money to US$15.2 million.

World No.2 Iga Świątek enters as the defending champion, ousting America's Jessica Pegula in last year's edition.


Singles Draw: Purple Group: [1] Aryna Sabalenka [4] Jasmine Paolini [5] Elena Rybakina

[7] Zheng Qinwen Despite Rybakina's injury and off-court issues this season, another matchup against Sabalenka will provide the group stage a mouth-watering battle.


The latter leads the head-to-head 6-3, including a victory at the 2023 Australian Open final. A rematch of this year's final at Melbourne Park will see Zheng hoping to break her duck, having lost all four meetings with Sabalenka in what has been nothing short of a mismatch.


The surprise name in the draw is Italy's Jasmine Paolini, rising to stardom by achieving back-to-back Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. She defeated Rybakina at the quarter-final stage in Paris as the 28-year-old late bloomer attempts to repeat that result.



Singles Draw:


Orange Group: [2] Iga Świątek

[3] Coco Gauff

[6] Jessica Pegula

[8] Barbora Krejčíková


An enticing rematch awaits between Świątek and Pegula, 12 months after the Pole served up an annihilation to win 6-0 6-1 at the WTA Finals.


However, the tide is slowly shifting, with Pegula's gutsy 6-2 6-4 win in front of her home crowd at the US Open quarters gifting a much-needed psychological win.


Aside from Gauff's three-set triumph against Świątek in Cincinnati last year, the former US Open winner has lost her other 11 previous meetings without claiming a set.


World No.12 Barbora Krejčíková qualifies for the main event due to winning a Grand Slam title at the All England Club while being inside the top-20, meaning world No.8 Emma Navarro cruelly misses out.


Doubles Draw:


Green Group:

[1] Lyudmyla Kichenok/Jeļena Ostapenko

[3] Hsieh Su-wei/Elise Mertens

[6] Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez

[8] Kateřina Siniaková/Taylor Townsend


Australia's Ellen Perez will pair up with America's Melichar-Martinez as the sixth seeds thanks to three titles this year at the San Diego Open, WTA 125 Lleida and the Bad Homburg Open.


The duo reached last year's WTA Finals arriving with the No.8 ranking tag, but fell short in straight sets against Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva.


White Group: [2] Gabriela Dabrowski/Erin Routliffe

[4] Sara Errani/Jasmine Paolini

[5] Caroline Dolehide/Desirae Krawczyk

[7] Chan Hao-ching/Veronika Kudermetova






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