Porsche Race to Shenzhen to restart with Kenin in pole position

Following the release of the WTA's provisional playing calendar, the Porsche Race to Shenzhen is back on.

With all points earned in 2020 eligible to count towards qualification for the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen, scheduled for early November, American Sofia Kenin will be at the top of the mountain when the tour resumes in August.

Kenin captured her first Grand Slam title in January at the Australian Open, and won the Open 6ème Sens – Métropole de Lyon at the start of March, days before the start of the tour's hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 21-year-old is the only player on tour with two singles titles on her resume thus far in the season.

Rounding out the Top 5 is Australian Open runner-up Garbiñe Muguruza, Adelaide champion and WTA World No.1 Ashleigh Barty, Dubai champion Simona Halep and Hobart champion Elena Rybakina.

Rybakina racked up 21 wins to lead the tour over the first dozen weeks of 2020, and the 21-year-old Kazakh will be in pursuit of her first berth at the WTA Finals.

 In doubles, Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strycova boast a lead of nearly 1,000 points over Australian Open champions Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic.

Hsieh and Strycova, who, along with Mladenovic, have occupied the World No.1 position in the rankings this year, won three titles in Brisbane, Doha and Dubai - becoming just the second team in WTA history to complete the sweep of the tour's events in the Middle East.

Read more: Hsieh and Strycova win Doha thriller to complete Middle East sweep

Following the top two teams are Czechs Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, the champions in Shenzhen; Gabriela Dabrowski and Jelena Ostapenko, who reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the final in Doha; and the Chan sisters, Latisha and Hao-ching.

The culmination of the Porsche Race to Shenzhen, the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen, which debuted on the calendar last year in the first of a 10-year tenure in the Chinese city, is scheduled for Nov. 9-15. 

Click to view the current standings for the Porsche Race to Shenzhen in singles and doubles.