WTA Finals 2022: Iga Swiatek favourite in a field of four first-timers including Coco Gauff

Fort Worth, Texas: World No 1 Iga Swiatek comes in as the favourite to lift the title at WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas. The Pole would look to cap off what has been a spectacular season in which she won the French Open, the US Open, four WTA 1000 titles, went on a 37-match unbeaten streak and jumped to the top of women’s rankings.

Swiatek’s ability to dominate the opposition can be gauged by the fact that she’s not easily affected by external circumstances. She finished runner-up at the Ostrava Open, hopped on to a long-flight for San Diego Open and clinched the title. In San Diego, she registered confident wins over Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula to further highlight her credentials.

Gauff, Caroline Garcia and Daria Kasatkina will have first shots at the ‘queen’ after being placed alongside her in the Tracy Austin Group. Among players in the WTA Finals field, only Garcia has a win over Swiatek this year.

“WTA Finals is a challenge, but she’s a challenge just by herself. She lost very few matches. I won against her in Poland, but it was very different condition, clay court. She was playing in Poland, and it was probably her first time,” said Garcia on the Swiatek challenge.

“It’s a whole different match for sure. It’s group stage as well. I will try to play my game, be aggressive. That’s my way of playing, and that’s probably the best chance I have to beat her.”

What is certain, though, is that a new champion will be crowned with 2019 winner Barty retiring and none of the other former winners - Venus Williams, Petra Kvitova, Elina Svitolina and Garbine Muguruza in contention.

WTA Finals field includes four first-timers: World No 2 and fan favourite Ons Jabeur, Gauff, Pegula and Kasatkina.

Tunisian Jabeur will have revenge on her mind after losing back-to-back Grand Slam finals, most recently at Flushing Meadows against Swiatek. She was earlier beaten by Elena Rybakina in the Wimbledon showdown.

Gauff is hardly an unknown name anymore, even though she’s just 18. The American who announced herself to the grand stage by beating Venus at Wimbledon in 2019, has proven herself by rising steadily through the rankings. Up to World No 4, she’s also making headway at the majors including an appearance in her first Grand Slam final at the French Open in June.

Gauff took the latest step in her evolution by qualifying for both singles and doubles events (alongside Pegula). “It is significant that there’s a lot of new faces. It shows that the tour is always evolving,” Gauff said Saturday. “There’s always going to be someone coming up and doing well. That’s what makes it exciting.”

Pegula has gradually improved over the last two seasons and flown under the radar at times. But that came to a stop when she won the biggest title of her career in Guadalajara. The improvement signs were blinking from 2021.

She began the 2021 season, at World No 62 and had been past the first round of a Slam only twice in her career. At the 2021 Australian Open, she made the quarterfinals of Australian Open and finished the season inside the top-20.

This year, she progressed to three major quarters (Australian Open, French Open and US Open) and semi-finals or better at four WTA 1000-level tournaments. Both marks were matched by only one player - Swiatek.

Greek Maria Sakkari endured an inconsistent stretch in the latter portion of the season but claimed the final spot when she produced a superb run at the last WTA 1000 event of the year in Guadalajara.

She lost to Pegula in the final but she admitted the tournament was a confidence booster. “Mentally, fighting-wise I’ve been very, very good the last four or five days,” she said. “The last few months maybe they haven’t seen a good Maria. Maybe now it’s myself again.”

Other players, besides Sakkari, who are into the WTA Finals for a second time are US Open semi-finalists Garcia and Aryna Sabalenka.

What is the WTA Finals?

WTA regular season concludes with the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas. The top eight singles and doubles teams of the year go head-to-head to be crowned the best of 2022.

Previous multiple-time champions include Martina Navratilova (8), Serena Williams, Steffi Graf (5), Chris Evert (4), Monica Seles, Kim Clijsters (3), Gabriela Sabatini, Martina Hingis, Evonne Goolagong Cawley and Justine Henin (2).

There will be a new WTA Finals champion this year after none of the former winners qualified.

What is the format of the WTA Finals?

The tournament is played in a round-robin format. Players (for singles) and teams (for doubles) are drawn into two separate groups and the top two finishers from each group advance to the last-four.

Each player or doubles team will face off against all of the other participants in their respective groups.

Player/team who finish top takes on the second-placed finisher from the other group in the semi-final.

The semi-finals and final are played in a standard knockout format.

What are the important dates for the WTA Finals?

The group stage begins on 31 October (Monday) and goes through 5 November (Saturday). The semifinals will be played on 6 November (Sunday).

The finals will be played on 7 November (Monday). The doubles final will begin at 4 AM IST (Tuesday)/5.30 PM local, with the singles final scheduled for a 6.30 AM IST (Tuesday)/8.00 PM local time start.

Where is the WTA Finals 2022 being played?

WTA Finals 2022 will be played at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. The tournament will be played as an indoor hard court tournament and use the Wilson US Open Regular Duty ball.

The tournament was originally scheduled to take place in Shenzhen, China as part of the WTA’s ten-year deal that began in 2019. However, all WTA tournaments in China and Hong Kong were suspended in 2022 due to concerns over the safety and well-being of former player Peng Shuai.

In September, WTA announced Fort Worth, Texas the new venue. The season-ending championships have returned to the United States for the first time since 2005 when Los Angeles was the host.

Who is in the field for WTA Finals?

Singles Field: Iga Swiatek, Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, Caroline Garcia, Aryna Sabalenka, Daria Kasatkina.

# Debutants: Jabeur, Gauff, Pegula and Kasatkina. Remaining four - Swiatek, Sakkari, Garcia and Sabalenka - are playing their second editions each.

# Gauff, 18, is the youngest singles player and Garcia, 29, is the oldest.

Doubles Field: Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens, Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko, Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan, Anna Danilina vs. Beatriz Haddad Maia, Desiree Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs.

# Krejcikova and Siniakova, who won three of the four Slams this year, are the defending champions. They are the only team to have played the WTA Finals together. Dabrowski, Olmos, Mertens, Xu, Krawczyk, and Schuurs have played WTA Finals before but with different partners.

What is the singles draw for the 2022 WTA Finals?

Tracy Austin Group: Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Caroline Garcia, Daria Kasatkina

Nancy Richey Group: Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula, Maria Sakkari, Aryna Sabalenka

What is the doubles draw for the 2022 WTA Finals?

Rosie Casals Group: Krejcikova/Siniakova, Gauff/Pegula, Xu/Yang, Krawczyk/Schuurs

Pam Shriver Group: Dabrowski/Olmos, Kudermetova/Mertens, Kichenok/Ostapenko, Danilina/Haddad Maia

What is the prize money for the 2022 WTA Finals?

The total prize money for the 2022 WTA Finals is $5,000,000. Players are rewarded on the basis of their matches won. They start off with a base amount of points/prize money for each match and earn extra points and prize money for victories.

So, a player can win up to 1,500 ranking points and $1.68 million by going undefeated at the WTA Finals to clinch the singles title.

Prize money for singles participants: $110,000 participation fee, plus $110,000 for each win in the group stage. If a player progresses to the semifinals, she adds an additional $30,000. A semi-final win earns an additional $420,000. Winning the final will earn an additional $820,000.

Ranking points for singles participants: 125 points for each match played, plus 125 points for a round-robin win, 330 points for a win in the last-four, and 420 points for winning the final.

The prize money in doubles is far less. There is a $50,000 participation fee, plus $20,000 for each round-robin win. If a team makes it to the semis, they will add an additional $5,000 to their kitty. A semi-final win will earn them an additional $80,000. Winning the final adds an additional $170,000.

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