The 2019 WTA Finals will begin in Shenzhen, China, on Sunday (October 27). Australia's Ashleigh Barty is the top seed at the year-ending women's tournament. She had qualified for the premier event in China immediately after the US Open in the first half of September.
The other players who have qualified include Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic), Simona Halep (Romania), Bianca Andreescu (Canada), Naomi Osaka (Japan), Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic), Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) and Belinda Bencic (Switzerland). The eight-day competition will end on November 3 (Sunday).
Dutch star Kiki Bertens and Sofia Kenin from United States are the alternates who will step in if there are any injury pull-outs by the players featuring in the tournament. Meanwhile, the eight stars already involved have been divided equally into two groups (Red and Purple) based on their seedings.
- THE GROUPS -
Red Group:
[1] Ashleigh Barty.
[3] Naomi Osaka.
[6] Petra Kvitova.
[7] Belinda Bencic.
Purple Group:
[2] Karolina Pliskova.
[4] Bianca Andreescu.
[5] Simona Halep.
[8] Elina Svitolina.
- THE FORMAT -
The current format of the WTA finals includes a round-robin stage, two semifinals and a final. The top two players from each group during the round-robin stage will advance to the last-four stage. The first-placed player in one group will meet the second-placed player in the other group, and vice versa.
In case of two players being tied on the same points after the group stage the tie-breaking methods would be as follows,
(i) Most number of wins.
(ii) Head-to-head results.
If three players are tied then,
(i) Highest percentage of sets won.
(ii) Highest percentage of games won.
- THE VENUE -
The WTA Finals will be held in China (Shenzhen) for the first time ever since its inception in 1972. The Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre will host the tournament for the next 10 years (2019-2028). The competition previously took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium (2014-2018).
- THE SCHEDULE -
27 October
Naomi Osaka vs Petra Kvitova.
Ashleigh Barty vs Belinda Bencic.
28 October
Karolina Pliskova vs Elina Svitolina.
Bianca Andreescu vs Simona Halep.
29 October
Barty vs Osaka.
Kvitova vs Bencic.
30 October
Halep vs Svitolina.
Pliskova vs Andreescu.
31 October
Barty vs Kvitova.
Osaka vs Bencic.
1 November
Andreescu vs Svitolina.
Pliskova vs Halep.
2 November
THE SEMIFINALS.
3 November
THE FINAL.
- PRIZE MONEY AND POINTS -
The total prize money for the WTA Finals 2019 is US$14,000,000.
Participation Fee - $385,000.
Round-robin loss - 125 points.
Round-robin (RR) win - $305,000 + 250 points.
Runner-up - $1,100,000 + Money made during the RR and 330 + Points accumulated until the semis.
Winner - $3,425,000 + Money made during the RR and 750 + Points accumulated until the semis.
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