WTA Finals Road to Singapore: 5 players who could qualify
The 2016 WTA Tour is at its twilight as the Wuhan Open will be coming to an end shortly which will be followed by a couple more tournaments before the WTA Finals in Singapore. Only the top eight-ranked players before the 24th of October will be participating in the tournament and the minimum number of points needed to make the Championship cut is 4275.
So far, Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams and Simona Halep have qualified for the Finals at Singapore with Halep booking her place just yesterday after defeating Madison Keys in the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open. Halep’s qualification for the finals means that there are five more spots left and there are quite a number of players who are still in contention for a place in the WTA Finals.
Let’s take a look at five players who can qualify for the WTA Finals at Singapore.
#5 Madison Keys
After showing a few promising signs in 2015, Madison Keys has been putting up a number of consistent performances this year. Keys did not have the best of starts to her year as she was heading into the Australian injury carrying an injury. Despite this, she managed to reach the fourth round where she was beaten by Zhang Shuai.
Prior to the French Open, Keys beat the likes of Petra Kvitova and Garbine Muguruza to reach the final of the Italian Open at Rome where she was eventually beaten by Serena Williams
After a fourth round performance at the French Open, Keys won the Aegon Classic in Birmingham which helped her move to the top 10 for the first time in her career. After another fourth round performance at a Grand Slam (Wimbledon), Keys reached the final of the Rogers Cup where she was beaten by Simona Halep.
She followed this with a fourth-place finish at the Rio Olympics where she was beaten by eventual silver medalist Angelique Kerber before being defeated by Petra Kvitova in the bronze medal playoff. She later reached the fourth round of the US Open and most recently reached the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open where she lost to eventual semifinalist Simona Halep.
Currently ranked eighth, there is not much to separate Keys and ninth-ranked Carla Suarez Navarro. With 3147 points, Keys will be looking to put up a strong performance at the China Open and given her current form, there is a good chance she might be able to qualify for her maiden year-end championships.