After a compelling season full of dominant superstars, the rise of some emerging young players and a few surprising victors, 2025 was a year to remember on the WTA Tour.
But it’s not over just yet.
While many players have already made their way to the beach for some much-deserved (and all too brief) rest and relaxation, the best-of-the-best remain in action and have their sights firmly set on winning the year’s last title at the WTA Finals.
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Played (somewhat controversially) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the competition gets underway with round-robin play Saturday, and will feature the top eight singles players and eight doubles teams — with a total of $15.5 million dollars in prize money.
After six days, with each player or duo playing three matches, the top two from their respective groups advance to the semifinals. The event concludes on Nov. 8 with the singles champion earning up to $5.235 million in prize money, and the winning doubles team earning a maximum of $1.139 million, and up to 1,500 in ranking points. (The winning player or team can earn the maximum amount of money and points by winning all three of their group matches. Both earn less if they do not go undefeated.)
Not sure what to expect from the year’s last WTA tournament? Here’s everything you need to know.
Who’s in
Singles
Stefanie Graf Group
1. Aryna Sabalenka
3. Coco Gauff
5. Jessica Pegula
7. Jasmine Paolini
Serena Williams Group
2. Iga Swiatek
4. Amanda Anisimova
6. Madison Keys
8. Elena Rybakina
Doubles
Martina Navratilova Group
1. Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini
4. Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens
6. Su-wei Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko
8. Asia Muhammad and Demi Schuurs
Liezel Huber Group
2. Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend
3. Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe
5. Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider
7. Timea Babos and Luisa Stefani
Gauff looks to repeat
It’s been an up-and-down season for Gauff, the world No. 3 and top-ranked American. The 21-year-old won her second major singles title at the French Open, but had some devastatingly low moments, including struggles with her serve and changing her coaching team right before the US Open.
Gauff is back in Riyadh as the defending champion and seems to have rediscovered her form and confidence at just the right time. After a challenging summer hard-court season, which included a fourth-round exit in New York, Gauff spent a few weeks training at home in Florida before heading to China. While she later confessed she had considered skipping the Asian swing entirely, her hard work and persistence paid off. Gauff reached the semifinals at the China Open and then won the title at Wuhan earlier this month, defeating Paolini in the semifinals and Pegula in the final. She didn’t drop a set during her run to the 1000-level trophy.
“This definitely gives me a lot more confidence going into the WTA Finals, after the way the mid-part of the season went for me, especially in New York,” Gauff said after winning in Wuhan.
“It gives me a lot of confidence to try to defend that title. Obviously, winning it last year, I know how tough it is to do, so I’m just going to take it match by match and hopefully I can end up with the trophy.”
While Gauff is certainly among the favorites to win the title, doing so won’t be easy. In fact, no player has successfully defended their title at the year-end event since Serena Williams did so in 2013 and 2014.
American dominance
With Anisimova, Pegula and Keys also qualifying, Americans make up half of the singles field in Saudi Arabia. It’s the most Americans to make the prestigious event since 2003 — months before Gauff was born. (And because Serena, Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport all withdrew that year due to injuries, this is expected to mark the largest American contingent actually competing since 2002, when 16 players were in the field.)
Anisimova, now ranked a career-high No. 4, will be making her debut at the event after reaching her first major final at Wimbledon, and then following it up with a final appearance at the US Open, in addition to winning 1000-level titles at the Qatar Open and the China Open.
Pegula qualified for the fourth consecutive season and is coming off a strong latter portion of the year in which she reached the semifinals at the US Open and the China Open and the final in Wuhan. She was a 2023 finalist at the year-end championships.
And Keys, who won her first major title to open the year at the Australian Open, makes her return to the tournament for the first time since 2016. The 30-year-old hasn’t played since her stunning first-round exit at the US Open in August and hasn’t reached another final since her triumph in Melbourne, but Keys should be well-rested and there is perhaps no one more capable of a surprise victory.
The Americans are well represented in the doubles draw as well. Townsend is making her second consecutive appearance after reaching the final in 2024 and Muhammad is making her debut at the event. Both have had strong seasons with Townsend winning the Australian Open with Siniakova and Muhammad having won Indian Wells and Queen’s Club alongside Schuurs.
The race for No. 1
After Swiatek won Wimbledon, and even after her quarterfinal exit at the US Open, it looked as if she might have a chance to reclaim her No. 1 ranking from Sabalenka by year’s end. When she claimed the title at the Korea Open in September and Sabalenka took a break from competition, that looked even more possible as Swiatek lessened the gap to under 3,000 points for the first time all season. While she said it wasn’t her “main focus” ahead of the China Open, she hasn’t denied how much getting the top ranking would mean to her.
But after a Round of 16 exit in Beijing, and a quarterfinal loss in Wuhan (and a semifinal run by Sabalenka in her first tournament back since winning the US Open), there is a 1,675-point deficit between the two, making it mathematically impossible for Swiatek to surpass Sabalenka. No matter what happens in Riyadh, Sabalenka will end the season as the year end No. 1 for the second straight season — and has held the top spot for the entire season.
Still, despite already having that wrapped up, Sabalenka, 27, is in search of her first WTA Finals crown. This marks her fifth consecutive appearance, and she reached the final in 2022, but has never managed to capture the elusive title. There’s perhaps no one more consistent in the biggest events in recent years — she reached the finals at the Australian Open and the French Open and the semifinals at Wimbledon this year in addition to her victory in New York — and she might be hungrier than ever for it.
But of course, Swiatek, the 2023 champion, will also look to close out her season in a big way — and put Sabalenka on high alert going into 2026.
It’s not how you start
While players like Sabalenka and Swiatek secured their berths in the summer, Paolini and Rybakina needed late surges to claim the final spots.
Paolini, who had already qualified for the doubles draw, punched her ticket after reaching back-to-back semifinals in Beijing and Wuhan. She had previously won the title at the Italian Open in the spring and reached the final in Cincinnati. She is the only player to make both draws in Riyadh.
And Rybakina grabbed the final spot just last week, narrowly edging out Andreeva, after winning the title in Ningbo and reaching the semifinals at the Japan Open. Rybakina had trailed Andreeva by over 400 points ahead of Ningbo, but Andreeva lost her opening-round match at that event and didn’t play again — and Rybakina took advantage. It’s been a challenging season for the 2022 Wimbledon champion, personally and professionally, but she seems to be peaking at the right time.
While neither Rybakina nor Paolini will have much downtime before the tournament begins, they both bring valuable momentum, confidence and rhythm. Could it be enough to propel either of them to the year’s final title?
Two for one
Dabrowski and Routliffe are the defending doubles champions and arrive to Saudi Arabia having won the final major of the year at the US Open. Like Gauff, they’ll be looking to reclaim their title but they don’t quite have the same momentum on their side. They have played together in just one tournament since, in Beijing, and lost in the first round. Separately, they haven’t fared much better. Routliffe, a one-time doubles partner of Gauff’s, reached the second round in Wuhan with Leylah Fernandez, and Dabrowski fell in the quarterfinals with Sofia Kenin in Tokyo just last week.
As it is in singles, repeating as the champion is difficult and it hasn’t been done since Babos and Kristina Mladenovic did so in 2018 and 2019. Babos also won the title in 2017 alongside Andrea Hlavackova and will now be looking to win her fourth title with a third partner in Stefani. The pair were among the last to qualify after reaching their fourth final of the season at Ningbo earlier this month.
But the title might come down to the two favorites and top-ranked pairs: Italian duo Errani and Paolini and the dominant Siniakova and Townsend. Errani and Paolini won the French Open title in June, as well as three 1000-level titles this year, including at the China Open this month.
Siniakova won the WTA Finals trophy in 2021 with fellow Czech compatriot Barbora Krejcikova. She and Townsend have won two titles together since their victory in Melbourne, including at the 1000-level Dubai, and reached the final at the US Open. For Townsend — who captured the world No. 1 doubles ranking in July for the first time — it would be a fitting end for a breakout year, which saw her become a fan favorite in reaching the fourth round at the US Open in singles, making the French Open mixed doubles final, and win four titles in six final appearances.
