Naomi Osaka have reached the semi-finals of the WTA tournament in Beijing and are now ranked higher than ever before. The 20-year-old was able to improve to fourth place. Meanwhile, the battle for participation in the year-end finale in Singapore remains extremely exciting.
Osaka is only the second Japanese woman in the top five of the WTA world rankings to be led by Simona Halep. Before this only Kimiko Date had succeeded. This week, however, the US Open winner will not be seen: She had to cancel for the event in Hong Kong due to a back injury.
The top seed in the Chinese metropolis is Elina Svitolina. The Ukrainian currently ranks seventh in the “Race to Singapore”, only 130 points ahead of Karolina Pliskova. The Czech is in Tianjin this week and has already won her first round match.
Aryna Sabalenka, tenth in the race, will also serve there. The Belarusian, however, only has more chances of winning the WTA finals as an outsider.
It looks a little better for Kiki Bertens. The Dutch rider, who is in the top ten for the first time in the WTA ranking, is only ten points short of the coveted eighth place in the race. The 26-year-old will be seen at the tournament in Linz, for which Dominika Cibulkova had to cancel due to shoulder problems.
At all three tournaments this week, the winner will receive 280 points. The events will probably already be decisive in the battle for Singapore tickets.
Five places have already been allocated for the year-end finale: Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki, Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova will all be on the grid. Currently sixth-placed is the US-American Sloane Stephens.
The WTA final will take place from 21 to 28 October. The defending champion is Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark.
Here is the current WTA World Ranking List
Here’s the Race to Singapore.