Editor's note: This week, we looked at the road each of the eight singles players and eight doubles teams took to qualify for this year's GNP Seguros WTA Finals Cancun in Mexico.

After a long, exciting season, we’re down the WTA Finals. This year’s tournament will be held in Cancun, Mexico.

The event will serve as the culmination of the Hologic WTA Tour season and showcase the Top 8 singles players and doubles teams, all of whom have earned their spots through their season-long performances.

This week, we will take a closer look at each competitor who qualified for the tournament, which begins Sunday, Oct. 29.

Singles

 

1. Aryna Sabalenka

Sabalenka ended 2022 with a runner-up performance at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, the highest-level final of her career up to that point. She entered this season with an eye on even more milestones. Twelve months later, it is safe to say that many of those markers have been hit by the new World No.1. Read more

2. Iga Swiatek

After a dominant 2022, expectations were sky-high for Swiatek  this year. With peaks and valleys this year, she did not quite match that performance. Nevertheless, the Polish star managed to uphold her historic achievements, securing an impressive five singles titles, leading the tour in victories this year. Read more

3. Coco Gauff

After a first-round loss to Sofia Kenin at Wimbledon, Gauff regrouped with coaches Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert and her family. Her much-discussed extreme forehand grip was left unchanged; instead, returns, footwork and tactics were tweaked. Finally in New York, armed with world-class footspeed and a tenacious spirit (four of her seven wins were in three sets), Gauff won the US Open, her first Grand Slam title. Read more

4. Elena Rybakina

This season, Rybakina has had a tendency to bring her topmost form to the biggest events, and against the best players. That pattern makes her an extremely dangerous opponent in her WTA Finals debut. Read more

5. Jessica Pegula

Make no mistake about it, Pegula is a tough out. Week after week, with a minimum of fuss, the American registers quality results, and with that has come her second straight WTA Finals qualification. Read more

6. Ons Jabeur

After finishing last year ranked No.2 in the world, Jabeur experienced a bittersweet season in 2023, with some pitfalls which could have derailed many other athletes. But the Tunisian used her champion's mentality to overcome those difficult moments and qualify for the WTA Finals for the second straight year. Read more

Must See

7. Marketa Vondrousova

Vondrousova went from what she described as a "tourist" at Wimbledon to the reigning champion at the All England Club, a feat that helped her earn a spot at the WTA Finals for the first time. Read more

8. Maria Sakkari

Sakkari did some soul-searching this year. At the US Open, after suffering her third straight Grand Slam first-round loss, she considered taking a break from tour. Things can turn on a dime in sports. After confronting those feelings, Sakkari surged through the rest of the year, and next week she will make her third straight WTA Finals appearance. Read more

Doubles

 

1. Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula

Gauff and Pegula firmed up their top spot with consistent week-in, week-out performances. They contested 13 tournaments together, including all four majors and seven of the nine WTA 1000 events and captured two titles (Doha and Miami) while taking only one opening-round loss (Beijing). Read more

2. Elise Mertens and Storm Hunter

Mertens and Hunter joined forces for the first time in 2023. Three quarterfinal finishes in their first three tournaments set the standard, and they hit their stride over summer to claim the Rome title and reach the Wimbledon final. Semifinal runs in Montreal and Cincinnati kept them in the hunt over the North American swing, which culminated in a second WTA 1000 trophy, in Guadalajara. Read more

3. Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara

Between August 2019 and January 2022, Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara won eight titles together and reached two Grand Slam semifinals and the last four of the WTA Finals. But the Tokyo Olympic Games had been the Japanese duo's target, but that had ended in a disappointing first-round loss. Five months later, they parted ways for the bulk of the 2022 season. But they reunited at the start of 2023, and three tournaments in, they achieved something they hadn't in their original partnership -- a Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, sealed with a victory against Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula. Read more

4. Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova

In 2022, Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova cemented themselves as this era's dominant doubles duo, a partnership that seemed near unbeatable -- particularly on the big stage and that yielded trophy after trophy. And they began 2023 in much the same vein, starting the year with an 11-match winning streak that encompassed an Australian Open championship, their seventh Grand Slam crown, followed by a 15th title together, at Indian Wells. Read more

5. Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuur

Krawczyk and Schuur first paired up in March 2022 and put together a solid season that culminated in a run to the WTA Finals Fort Worth semifinals. They've reprised that this year -- and though this is Schuurs' fifth trip to the year-end finale and Krawczyk's third, it's the first time they've qualified with a repeat partner. Read more

6. Laura Siegemund and  Vera Zvonareva

A last-minute title in Nanchang sealed a WTA Finals debut for Laura Siegemund at the age of 35 and a return to the year-end finale for the first time in 12 years for Vera Zvonareva. Read more

7. Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe

In August, Dabrowski and Routliffe's seasons seemed like it was in a freefall. Then they teamed up and pulled off a remarkable turnaround in just three months. Read more

8. Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez

After they teamed up for the first time in May 2022 and reached back-to-back WTA 1000 finals at Toronto and Cincinnati that year, Melichar-Martinez and Perez stuck together and maintained their level throughout 2023. The American-Australian duo matched their best Slam result as a team, following their 2022 US Open semifinal run with another at Roland Garros 2023. Read more