CANCUN ― Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka will try to hold off Poland’s second-placed Iga Swiatek for the year-end world number one spot when the WTA Finals begin tomorrow at Cancun, Mexico.
The $9 million season-ending outdoor hardcourt showdown of eight top players features round-robin group matches to decide semi-final pairings ahead of the November 5 championship match.
Sabalenka, the reigning Australian Open champion, was the runner-up in last month’s US Open and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the French Open.
The 25-year-old from Belarus also won WTA titles this year at Madrid and Adelaide and enters the WTA Finals with a 630-point lead over 22-year-old reigning French Open champion Swiatek.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek, the 2022 year-end world number one, also took 2023 titles at Stuttgart, Qatar, Poland and earlier this month at Beijing.
Sabalenka can clinch the year-end top spot by reaching the final with a 2-1 group stage record no matter what Swiatek does.
