Three players closely connected with Porsche have managed via the Race to the WTA Finals to qualify for the prestigious year-ending tournament. In addition to the Porsche Friend Poland Iga Swiatek and the Porsche Friend Greece Maria Sakkari, Porsche Team Germany’s Laura Siegemund will also be in action in the doubles together with her partner Vera Zvonareva. The year’s eight most successful singles players and doubles teams traditionally compete at the WTA Finals.
Iga Swiatek records the most wins in 2023
This season, Iga Swiatek won her second consecutive Porsche Tennis Grand Prix plus the WTA titles in Doha, Warsaw and Beijing. She added a third win at the French Open in Paris where she became the first woman to successfully defend her title since Justine Henin in 2007. No other player has recorded five tournament wins. The 22-year-old Pole also heads the match win statistics with 63 successes to her name. She topped the world rankings for 75 weeks.
Maria Sakkari was a semifinalist at the 2022 WTA Finals. This time around, the 28-year-old Greek, ninth in the Race to the WTA Finals, has replaced the injured Karolina Muchova in the exclusive field containing the year’s most successful women players. In addition to her win in Guadalajara, she reached the last four at the Masters tournaments in both Indian Wells and Madrid.
Laura Siegemund competing in the doubles
Laura Siegemund, the 2017 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix singles winner, has recently enjoyed her biggest successes in doubles. Partnered by Vera Zvonareva, she claimed the Grand Slam title at the 2020 US Open. The two reached this year’s final in New York. After previously winning in Washington DC and Ningbo, the world class doubles pairing qualified at the last moment for the WTA Finals by claiming the title in Nanchang. Laura Siegemund also won the doubles in Hobart. The 2022 and 2023 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix doubles champions Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs will also be competing in Cancun.
Of the eight singles players that have qualified, six were in action at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in the Porsche Arena in April – Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, Ons Jabeur and Maria Sakkari. For the second time in succession, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka even played each other in the final.
The battle for top spot will also be in full swing
The outcome of the WTA Finals may also lead to a change at the top of the world rankings which been occupied by Aryna Sabalenka since 11 September. Should she win the tournament in Cancun, Iga Swiatek has an excellent chance of ending the 2023 season as the world No. 1.
The schedule
The preliminary round at the WTA Finals is made up of two groups of four. The top finisher in one group will take on the No. 2 finisher in the other in Saturday’s semifinals. The winners will face each other in the final on Sunday. Doubles will be played in addition to the singles. The draw in Cancun produced the following groups:
Singles
Bacalar Group
Aryna Sabalenka
Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
Jessica Pegula (USA)
Maria Sakkari (GRE)
Chetumal Group
Iga Swiatek (POL)
Coco Gauff (USA)
Ons Jabeur (TUN)
Marketa Vondrousova (CZE)
Doubles
Mahahual Group
Coco Gauff (USA) & Jessica Pegula (USA)
Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) & Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
Vera Zvonareva & Laura Siegemund (GER)
Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) & Erin Routliffe (NZL)
Maya Ka’an Group
Storm Hunter (AUS) & Elise Martens (BEL)
Shuko Aoyama (JPN) & Ena Shibahara (JPN)
Demi Schuurs (NED) & Desirae Krawczyk (USA)
Nicole Melichar Martinez (USA) & Ellen Perez (AUS)
Maria Sakkari will play her first match on Sunday against world number one Aryna Sabalenka. In the duel of this year’s Grand Slam champions, French Open winner Iga Swiatek will meet Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova in her opening match on Monday. Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva will only enter the tournament on Tuesday.