Swiatek, Jabeur among first qualifiers announced for 2022 WTA Finals

ST PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The WTA announced Monday that World No.1 Iga Swiatek, US Open finalist Ons Jabeur and the doubles team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova have secured their qualification for the 2022 WTA Finals.

Jabeur will be making her first appearance at the season-ending tournament, and Swiatek her second, which is being held in Fort Worth, Texas, at the state-of-the-art Dickies Arena as the event returns to the United States for the first time since 2005. The pairing of Krejcikova and Siniakova return as defending champions in what will be their fourth consecutive team appearance.

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“I’m really excited to qualify for the WTA Finals this year for the second time in my career and I’m really looking forward to playing in front of the fans in Fort Worth,” Swiatek said. 

Swiatek has won a tour-leading seven titles this season, six of which spanned a 37-match winning streak from February to July. The Polish 21-year-old won consecutive titles at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open (Doha), BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells), Miami Open presented by Itaú, Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart), Internazionali BNL d'Italia (Rome) and Roland Garros. She lifted her third Grand Slam title on Saturday at the US Open and has amassed a 55-7 win loss record this year.

Her incredible season, coupled with Ashleigh Barty’s retirement, saw her secure the World No.1 ranking on April 4, becoming the first man or woman from Poland to do so in singles and the 28th woman overall to ascend to the top spot.

Swiatek has appeared at the WTA Finals once before, contesting the group stages in 2021, where she became the first Polish qualifier since Agnieszka Radwanska in 2016.

Tunisia’s Jabeur becomes the first Arab woman to qualify for the WTA Finals, and this season has won the biggest titles of her career at the WTA 1000 level Mutua Marid Open and WTA 500 bett1open (Berlin). In addition, she reached the title match at the US Open, Credit One Charleston Open and Internazionali BNL d'Italia (Rome). Jabeur reached a career-high ranking of No.2 on June 27 this year, making her the highest-ranked African and Arab tennis player ever, man or woman.

Before contesting the final in New York over the weekend, Jabeur, became the first Arab player to reach a Grand Slam singles final, finishing runner-up at The Championships, Wimbledon in July.

“It is such an honor to qualify for the WTA Finals,” Jabeur said. “It was my goal from the beginning of the season to play the tournament and I can’t wait to compete as one the top 8 players in the world.”

Confirming their qualification having lifted the US Open doubles title over the weekend, the Czech duo of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova will make their fourth consecutive appearance at the WTA Finals. In 2021, they became the first all-Czech team to lift the WTA Finals Martina Navratilova Trophy and will hope to be the seventh team overall to successfully defend the WTA Finals crown.

Siniakova, the current WTA World No.1 in doubles, and Krejcikova first played on the Hologic WTA Tour together at Nürnberg in 2014 and this season have won three titles, all coming at Grand Slam level, at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and now the US Open.

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"We are so excited that we are going to play the WTA Finals again," Siniakova said.

Added Krejcikova: "We are really looking forward to playing in Fort Worth in Texas and hopefully defending our title." 

The 2022 WTA Finals features the Top 8 singles players and doubles teams on the Race to the WTA Finals, competing in a round-robin format with the singles champion taking home the WTA Finals Billie Jean King Trophy and the doubles champions earning the WTA Finals Martina Navratilova Trophy.

Click here to see the latest Race to the WTA Finals leaderboard.

Ticketing details for the 2022 WTA Finals will be available soon via Ticketmaster.