First qualifiers announced for 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun

• WTA World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka has qualified for the third consecutive season
• US Open champion Coco Gauff secures her place in Mexico in singles and doubles with partner Jessica Pegula
• Iga Swiatek returns to WTA Finals courtesy of four titles this season
• Elena Rybakina makes history as first player from Kazakhstan to qualify in singles

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The WTA announced Friday the first set of qualifiers for the 2023 WTA Finals, which includes WTA World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, recent US Open champion Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina, who will be making her tournament debut. Gauff has also secured her qualification in doubles with fellow American Jessica Pegula, which marks their second appearance as a team.

The prestigious season-ending event will be held this season in Cancun, Mexico, from Oct. 29 to Nov. 5, marking the second year the WTA Finals has been held in the country following its staging in Guadalajara in 2021.

Aryna Sabalenka

Sabalenka will make her third consecutive qualification for the WTA Finals, with her best result coming last year when she reached the title match. The 25-year-old has enjoyed the best season of her career, winning her first Grand Slam singles title, at the Australian Open, in addition to the WTA 1000 Mutua Madrid Open and WTA 500 Adelaide International.

She’s reached an additional three finals, at the WTA 1000 BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells), WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart) and the US Open, with the latter confirming her ascent to the WTA World No.1 ranking for the first time in her career.

Iga Swiatek

Swiatek will also be appearing at the WTA Finals for the third time and will be looking to build on last year’s semifinal run.

Swiatek has won four tournaments in 2023, defending her titles at Roland Garros and WTA 500 events at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open (Doha) and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart), in addition to winning her home event at the WTA 250 BNP Paribas Warsaw Open. She currently leads the Hologic WTA Tour in match-wins, with an impressive 56-10 record this season.

Coco Gauff

Gauff qualified in both singles and doubles this season, appearing in both formats at the WTA Finals for the second year in a row. Along with Swiatek, Gauff has won the most singles titles in 2023 with four, the first of which came in her opening event of the season at the WTA 250 ASB Classic in Auckland, followed by a strong American summer swing in which she won the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open (Washington DC), the WTA 1000 Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati) and her first Grand Slam title, at the US Open, to set a new career-high ranking of No.3.

In doubles, Gauff and Jessica Pegula secured their qualification courtesy of titles at the WTA 1000 Miami Open presented by Itaú and WTA 500 Qatar TotalEnergies Open (Doha) and runner-up finishes at WTA 1000 events at the Mutua Marid Open and Internazionali BNL d'Italia (Rome). Earlier in September, the American duo became the first co-ranked WTA World No.1s since 2019.

Elena Rybakina

Rybakina became the first woman from Kazakhstan to secure qualification for the WTA Finals in singles, courtesy of a season that has seen her perform successfully on the biggest stages across 2023. She lifted her first WTA 1000 titles, first at the BNP Paribas Open (Indian Wells) and then at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia (Rome).

She also reached her second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open and another WTA 1000 final at the Miami Open presented by Itaú, posting a new career-high ranking of No.3 in June. Rybakina is the first player representing Kazakhstan to appear at the WTA Finals since Yaroslava Shvedova qualified in doubles in 2016.

The 2023 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 2023 WTA Finals will be available soon.