WTA Finals: Coco Gauff makes qualification blunder – ‘They told me not to say anything’
Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini are among the latest players to qualify for the WTA Finals, but apparently it is not official until organisers have made a formal announcement.
Only eight spots are available for the season-ending women’s tournament, which will be staged in Saudi Arabia for the first time, and the top two in the Race To Riyadh Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka are already confirmed for the event as the organisers have officially confirmed their qualification.
Reigning world No 1 Swiatek was the first to book her place before Sabalenka joined her in the line-up with her title run at the US Open.
Sabalenka, in fact, has overtaken Swiatek as the top seed for the WTA Finals after reaching the final of the Wuhan Open this week.
Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova is also assured of her place in the event as she will qualify as a 2024 Grand Slam winner with a ranking of 8-20 on the day of the qualification cutoff (November 4). The Czech is currently at No 12.
That left five places up for grabs and another four were booked at Wuhan this week with Gauff, Paolini, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula now assured of qualification.
Race To Riyadh Live Points
1. Aryna Sabalenka – 8,741
2. Iga Swiatek – 8,285
3. Coco Gauff – 5,358
4. Jasmine Paolini – 5,145
5. Elena Rybakina – 4,981
6. Jessica Pegula – 4,706
Following her semi-final defeat to Sabalenka at the WTA 1000 event, Gauff commented on her qualification but then remembered it’s not official until the officials say it is official.
“I saw that I qualified on the ranking race,” the American said. “Oops, they said they didn’t announce it yet. If you look it up online, there’s a checkmark by my name. They told me not to say anything. Sorry. But it’s by my name. You can look it up.”
WTA News
Why Coco Gauff’s latest defeat will leave a lasting scar that will be hard to remove
Aryna Sabalenka makes WTA Rankings No 1 move with huge Coco Gauff Wuhan comeback win
There are still three weeks left before the WTA Finals with a couple of WTA 500 events and some WTA 250 tournaments remaining so there is still some time for those below them to make a move.
Battle For Final Spot
7. Qinwen Zheng – 4,111
8. Emma Navarro – 3,568
9. Danielle Collins – 3,177
10. Daria Kasatkina – 2,878
11. Paula Badosa – 2,714
12. Barbora Krejcikova – 2,706
13. Anna Kalinskaya – 2,645
Unofficially there is still one spot left for the 2024 WTA Finals with Qinwen Zheng and Emma Navarro battling for that spot as the ninth-placed Danielle Collins is out injured while those below them face a difficult task.
Qinwen can take a big step towards qualification if she beats Sabalenka in the Wuhan Open final.
Daria Kasatkina, Paula Badosa and Anna Kalinskaya are still in the running but they will have to win a couple of tournaments between now and November 4 to qualify.
However, all the players will have to wait until the officials say their qualification is official.
