WTA Finals: Sabalenka, Swiatek and Gauff set to battle it out for $5m Riyadh prize

Star trio among top eight players in world heading to Saudi Arabia for season finale

Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek are the among the favourites to win the season-ending WTA Finals. Photos: Getty Images

For a second straight year, the WTA season’s grand finale will take place in Riyadh, bringing together the world’s top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams.

A run to the Tokyo semi-finals last week saw Elena Rybakina complete the singles field by securing the eighth and final remaining spot in the line-up, ahead of Mirra Andreeva.

Riyadh has a three-year deal in place to host the WTA Finals, which became the first professional women’s tennis tournament to be staged in Saudi Arabia when it made its debut in the Kingdom last season.

InterviewGauff finds form and confidence as she seeks to defend WTA crown in Riyadh

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American world No 3 Coco Gauff clinched the title in Riyadh last year, pocketing a record $4.8 million in the process. This year, an undefeated singles champion is set to earn $5.235 million.

Here’s a closer look at each of the eight singles qualifiers at the upcoming WTA Finals (November 1–8).

Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus)

Ranking: 1

2025 win-loss: 59-11

2025 titles: 4 (Brisbane, Miami, Madrid, US Open)

2025 record against top-10 opponents: 11-4

If you asked Sabalenka to describe her 2025 campaign, she’ll most likely tell you it was a season of personal growth.

Heartbreaking narrow defeats in the Australian Open and Roland Garros finals, as well as backlash over ill-advised comments she made after losing in Paris, proved to be defining moments for the world No 1.

She owned up to her mistakes, learned from her losses, and made sure she didn’t walk away from 2025 without scooping another Grand Slam trophy by successfully defending her US Open crown.

Over the past 10 months, Sabalenka has reached at least 13 quarter-finals from 15 tournaments played, has extended her stay at the top of the rankings to a current total of 62 weeks, and has added variety to her power game that further devastates her opponents.

The 27-year-old Belarusian has now qualified for the WTA Finals for a fifth consecutive year and will be seeking a maiden title at the prestigious season finale.

Key stat: Sabalenka won 19 consecutive tiebreaks between February and September before her streak was ended by Jessica Pegula in the Wuhan semi-finals.

Iga Swiatek (Poland)

Ranking: 2

2025 win-loss: 61-15

2025 titles: 3 (Wimbledon, Cincinnati, Seoul)

2025 record against top-10 opponents: 8-6

For a player as consistent and as determined as Swiatek, going 13 months without winning a title, including a fruitless stretch on her beloved clay, sounded like fiction.

With Polish media back home doubting her every decision and trophies continuing to elude her, Swiatek did what she does best: she flipped the script and went on a 10-1 run on her least favourite surface – grass – to capture a sixth Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

Through her work with coach Wim Fissette, Swiatek made significant improvements to her serve (held serve in 76.8 per cent of her service games in 2025) and upped her aggression, which also paid dividends on the hard courts of Cincinnati and Seoul later in the season.

No player has won more matches than Swiatek on the WTA Tour this year.

The 24-year-old will be making her fifth consecutive WTA Finals appearance and will bid for a second title at the tournament, having triumphed in Guadalajara in 2023.

Key stat: Swiatek is the first woman this century to record 60-plus wins in four consecutive seasons. The last two women to achieve that feat were Martina Hingis (1997-2001) and Lindsay Davenport (1998-2001).

Poland's Iga Swiatek with the Wimbledon trophy after her win in the final against Amanda Anisimova of the US. Getty Images

Iga Swiatek crushed Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 to win her maiden Wimbledon title. PA

Iga Swiatek defeated Amanda Anisimova inside an hour at the All England Club. Getty Images

Iga Swiatek celebrates with her dad Tomasz and sister Agata after winning the Wimbledon title. Reuters

Amanda Anisimova was in tears after her defeat in the final. AP

Iga Swiatek crushed Amanda Anisimova in the Wimbledon final. EPA

Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates her sixth Grand Slam title and maiden Wimbledon triumph. Reuters

Amanda Anisimova was blown away in the Wimbledon final on Saturday. EPA

Coco Gauff (USA)

Ranking: 3

2025 win-loss: 47-14

2025 titles: 2 (French Open, Wuhan)

2025 record against top-10 opponents: 9-5

At certain times this season, Gauff felt like she was facing an enormous amount of pressure and she couldn’t hide it.

Serving woes plagued large portions of her season, yet she still managed to have an incredible clay campaign that included runner-up showings in Madrid and Rome and a title at Roland Garros.

With her serve under scrutiny and sub-par results during the grass-court and North American hard-court swings, Gauff made a bold move by firing her coach Matthew Daly and bringing in biomechanics specialist Gavin MacMillan on the eve of the US Open.

Her reward was a strong Asian campaign that saw her make the semi-finals in Beijing and clinch the title in Wuhan. It was the confidence boost she needed as she heads to Riyadh for her title defence.

Key stat: After triumphing in Wuhan, Gauff is now a perfect 9-0 in hard-court finals. She is the first woman in history to win her first nine consecutive finals on hard courts.

Amanda Anisimova (USA)

Ranking: 4

2025 win-loss: 45-16

2025 titles: 2 (Doha, Beijing)

2025 record against top-10 opponents: 8-3

Is there a better story in 2025 than Anisimova’s? The American former teen prodigy stepped away from tennis in 2023, citing burnout and mental health concerns.

After an eight-month break, she returned to action at the start of 2024, her ranking dropping to as low as 442 in January. Fast-forward to 2025 and Anisimova is ranked a career-high No 4 in the world, is a Wimbledon and US Open finalist, and a two-time WTA 1000 champion.

The most impressive moment of her campaign came when she avenged her 6-0, 6-0 Wimbledon final, to defeat to Swiatek by defeating the Polish star in the US Open quarter-finals just 53 days later.

A stunning, powerful game with a feel-good twist, Anisimova gave tennis fans everything they could hope for and then some in 2025.

She’ll make her WTA Finals debut next week, where Americans represent half of the field.

Key stat: In July, Anisimova became the first woman born in the 2000s to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon.

Jessica Pegula (USA)

Ranking: 5

2025 win-loss: 51-21

2025 titles: 3 (Austin, Charleston, Bad Homburg)

2025 record against top-10 opponents: 3-5

The queen of consistency has qualified for a fourth consecutive WTA Finals, where she was runner-up to Swiatek in 2023.

Pegula has won three titles on all three surfaces this year from six finals reached.

The 31-year-old American’s Grand Slam campaign was highlighted by a semi-final showing on home soil at the US Open.

Key stat: Pegula has posted 50-plus wins in a season for the second time in her career (had 59 wins in 2023).

Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan)

Ranking: 6

2025 win-loss: 54-19

2025 titles: 2 (Strasbourg, Ningbo)

2025 record against top-10 opponents: 6-6

In a difficult year that saw her coach Stefano Vukov suspended for a period of six months (initially a year but was halved on appeal) for breaking the WTA Code of Conduct, Rybakina made it to the WTA Finals at the very last chance.

The former Wimbledon champion had to reach the semi-finals in Tokyo last week to edge Andreeva in the race and did just that to punch her ticket to Riyadh.

This will be Rybakina’s third WTA Finals appearance. She reached six semi-finals in 2025 and scooped two WTA 500 trophies in Strasbourg and Ningbo.

Key stat: Rybakina leads the tour with 468 aces this season.

Madison Keys (USA)

Ranking: 7

2025 win-loss: 37-13

2025 titles: 2 (Adelaide, Australian Open)

2025 record against top-10 opponents: 5-4

Nine years after making her WTA Finals debut, Keys is back among the world’s elite and will return to the season-ending championships.

Just shy of her 30th birthday, Keys clinched a maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, showcasing the kind of tennis that earned her massive hype when she was a young teenager breaking through on the tour.

She built a 16-match winning streak early in the season but has had mixed results since.

Keys opted out of the Asian swing, and hasn’t played a match since her shock first-round exit at the US Open on August 25.

She’ll no doubt be feeling rusty in Riyadh following a two-month hiatus, but Keys is a big-match player and can catch fire on demand.

Key stat: Per Opta Ace, Keys is the player with the biggest gap between her first two (2016 and 2025) appearances at the WTA Finals (nine years), surpassing the previous record held by Amy Frazier (eight years, 1992-2000).

Madison Keys receives the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup from Australian former seven-time Grand Slam winner Evonne Goolagong Cawley after defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the final of the Australian Open on Saturday, January 25, 2025. AP

Madison Keys celebrates with the trophy alongside runner-up Aryna Sabalenka. Reuters

Madison Keys celebrates with her coach and husband Bjorn Fratangelo after winning the final against Aryna Sabalenka. Reuters

Madison Keys celebrates after winning the final against Aryna Sabalenka. Reuters

Aryna Sabalenka reacts during the final against Madison Keys. Reuters

Aryna Sabalenka plays a forehand against Madison Keys. Getty Images

Aryna Sabalenka takes a bow after winning a point in the final. EPA

Madison Keys is hit by the ball as she tries to return it to Aryna Sabalenka. AFP

Actor Jackie Chan reacts as he watches Aryna Sabalenka play Madison Keys in the final. AP

Jasmine Paolini (Italy)

Ranking: 8

2025 win-loss: 46-18

2025 titles: 1 (Rome)

2025 record against top-10 opponents: 5-7

A fan favourite with an infectious smile and mean baseline game, Paolini has proven all year that she belongs at the top of the game and that her 2024 season was no fluke.

The two-time Grand Slam finalist triumphed on home soil at the Italian Open in May, becoming the first Italian women's singles champion in Rome for 40 years.

She has reached seven semi-finals in 2025 and helped guide Italy to a second consecutive Billie Jean King Cup crown last month.

Key stat: Paolini is the only player to qualify for the WTA Finals in both singles and doubles in each of the past two seasons.