Race to the WTA Finals: Last three spots in Riyadh up for grabs as battle heats up in Wuhan

With Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek booking their spots in the WTA Finals in the summer, the field continued to take shape last week during Beijing, with Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova and Madison Keys becoming the third, fourth and fifth players to qualify for the exclusive event.

That leaves three spots up for grabs, and the Race to the WTA Finals could really heat up this week at the tour's last 1000 event of the season, in Wuhan.

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How has the Top 15 has changed after Beijing?

What pops out is that Keys has qualified before Jessica Pegula, despite Pegula now being ahead of her in the standings. It all comes down to Keys winning the Australian Open this year—with Beijing playing out how it did, she was guaranteed of either finishing in the Top 7 (and securing her spot outright) or qualifying as a Grand Slam champion in the No. 8-20 position.

Apart from that, there's no movement in the No. 7-13 range. The biggest move among the Top 15 comes from Linda Noskova, who jumped from No. 20 to No. 15 after reaching her first WTA 1000 final in the Chinese capital.

RACE TO THE WTA FINALS, TOP 15 (after Beijing; players qualified in bold):

• No. 1: Aryna Sabalenka—9,610 points
• No. 2: Iga Swiatek—8,153 points
• No. 3: Amanda Anisimova—5,908 points [+1]
• No. 4: Coco Gauff—5,574 points [-1]
• No. 5: Jessica Pegula—4,598 points [+1]
• No. 6: Madison Keys—4,450 points [-1]
• No. 7: Mirra Andreeva—4,309 points
• No. 8: Elena Rybakina—3,806 points
• No. 9: Jasmine Paolini—3,741 points
• No. 10: Ekaterina Alexandrova—3,136 points
• No. 11: Clara Tauson—2,660 points
• No. 12: Elina Svitolina—2,606 points
• No. 13: Emma Navarro—2,515 points
• No. 14: Belinda Bencic—2,349 points [+1]
• No. 15: Linda Noskova—2,310 points [+5]

Note: Svitolina, who's currently at No. 12 on the race standings, ended her season last month, so Navarro, Bencic and Noskova are effectively in 12th, 13th and 14th place on the race standings.

What can happen in Wuhan?

There are a lot of ranking points up for grabs at this week's Wuhan Open—the champion earns 1,000 points, the runner-up 650 points, semifinalists 390 points and quarterfinalists 215 points. So the battle for the last three spots is far from over.

There are definitely some frontrunners, such as Pegula and Andreeva, who could qualify depending on how they fare. Rybakina and Paolini aren't too far behind them, and Alexandrova could put herself in contention with a deep run as well.

Beyond Wuhan, the race could go on for two more weeks, both of which include WTA 500 tournaments—the first in Ningbo, China, and then in Tokyo.

For the latest updates, stay tuned to TENNIS.com, and watch Race to the Finals on Tennis Channel and the Tennis Channel app:

RACE TO THE WTA FINALS

• Monday, October 6 at 8:00 p.m. ET
• Monday, October 13 at 8:00 p.m. ET
• Monday, October 20 at 8:00 p.m. ET
• Monday, October 27 at 8:00 p.m. ET

👉 You can stream the premiere episode of Race to the ATP FInals now, by clicking here.