Elena Rybakina becomes eighth and final qualifier for WTA Finals after reaching semifinals in Tokyo

Elena Rybakina has become the eighth and final player to qualify for this year’s WTA Finals, joining Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini in the field.

The Kazakh secured her spot in the elite eight-woman event by defeating Canada’s Victoria Mboko, 6-3, 7-6 (4), in the quarterfinals in Tokyo on Friday afternoon. She needed to reach the semifinals of the WTA 500 event to punch her ticket to Riyadh—had she lost before the semis, Mirra Andreeva would have become the eighth and final qualifier for the WTA Finals.

Andreeva and Ekaterina Alexandrova will be the first and second alternates.

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Currently No. 7 on the WTA rankings, Rybakina has had another excellent season on the tour, highlighted by a pair of WTA 500 titles, the first one coming on the clay courts of Strasbourg the week before Roland Garros, and the second one coming just last week on the hard courts of Ningbo.

The Kazakh has also reached another six semifinals this year at Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Washington D.C., Montreal, Cincinnati and now Tokyo, and another four quarterfinals at Doha, Queen's Club, Berlin and Wuhan.

That's 12 times reaching the quarterfinals or better at WTA events this year, and all of them were at WTA 500 or WTA 1000 tournaments.

Her best results at the Grand Slams this year were three fourth-round appearances at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open.

This will be her third consecutive year finishing in the Top 10, as well as her third consecutive appearance at the WTA Finals, having qualified in 2023 and 2024 as well (but falling in the round-robin stage both times).

She likely would have finished in the Top 10 and qualified for the WTA Finals in 2022 (then held in Fort Worth) had there been ranking points awarded at Wimbledon that year, when she won the first Grand Slam title of her career.

But before she heads to Riyadh, Rybakina has unfinished business in Tokyo.

Awaiting the world No. 7 in the semifinals will be world No. 17 Linda Noskova, who moved past Anna Kalinskaya in the first quarterfinal match of the day after Kalinskaya had to retire down 6-0, 1-0 with a back injury.

Rybakina is 3-0 against Noskova, as well as 6-0 in sets, having won all three of their previous meetings in straight sets at Roland Garros in 2023 (6-3, 6-3), Brisbane in 2024 (6-3, 6-2) and in Wuhan just a few weeks ago (6-3, 6-4).