The Race to the WTA Finals will come down to the final lap at the Guadalajara Open AKRON, the last 1000-level tournament of the season, where 17 players have a mathematical chance to qualify for the season-ending championships, which begin on Oct. 31 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Guadalajara 1000: Main draw | Everything you need to know
Six of the Hologic WTA Tour Top 10 are in the draw, including No.5 seed Coco Gauff and No.6 seed Caroline Garcia, both of whom are on the brink of locking down their spots in Fort Worth. World No.4 Paula Badosa is the top seed, with No.5 Aryna Sabalenka, No.6 Jessica Pegula and No.7 Maria Sakkari rounding out the top four seeds.
The top eight seeds have byes into the second round.
Main draw in Guadalajara (WTA 1000), where Paula Badosa, Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula and Maria Sakkari are the top seeds.
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) October 16, 2022
Notable 1Rs:
Azarenka-Zhang
Rybakina-Pliskova
Andreescu-Teichmann
Bencic-Fernandez
Samsonova-Kanepi pic.twitter.com/vcAjxjm6La
Badosa and Gauff anchor the top quarter, along with No.11 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia and No.13 seed Madison Keys. All four are in the hunt to qualify for the WTA Finals. Gauff needs just one win to seal her debut. She will face either Anastasia Potapova or a qualifier/lucky loser in the second round.
Pegula and Garcia are the top seeds in the second quarter, along with No.10 seed Belinda Bencic and No.16 seed Petra Kvitova. Coming off a semifinal run in San Diego, Pegula will face either Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina or Karolina Pliskova in her opener, with Kvitova or Bianca Andreescu potentially looming in the Round of 16.
Sakkari and No.8 seed Veronika Kudermetova lead the third quarter of the draw, along with No.12 seed Jelena Ostapeno and an in-form No.14 seed Danielle Collins. Donna Vekic, who has had a resurgent week in San Diego, and Eugenie Bouchard received wild cards into the main draw and both landed in this third quarter.
The final quarter is led by No.2 seed Sabalenka and No.7 seed Daria Kasatkina. Looming in this quarter is the red-hot Barbora Krejcikova, who is on a two-title, nine-match win streak after winning Tallinn and Ostrava. Seeded No.9, Krejcikova opens against Anna Kalinskaya and could face Monastir champion Elise Mertens in the second round.
Main-draw play begins on Monday, Oct. 17.