The WTA Finals (November 2-9) are changing the much-criticised venue of Cancun for the King Saud University Sports Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There will be no Spanish presence in the singles or doubles ’round robin’, but there will be in the running of the tournament, which is run by Garbine Muguruza.
Garbi, who retired from official competition last April, was present on Tuesday night at the draw for the groups. Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, the top two seeds because that is their ranking order, lead the purple and orange groups.
Sabalenka will face Jasmine Paoline, Elena Rybakina and Qinwen Zheng while Swiatek will take on Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Barbora Krejcikova.
Swiatek, the defending champion, returns to competition after missing the Asian tour and breaking off her relationship with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski. She later announced her union with Belgian Wim Fissette. Iga has lost the world number one ranking to Sabalenka, but will fight to regain it at the WTA Finals. She has a 1,046-point deficit and there is a 1,500-point purse at stake. As far as prize money is concerned, there will be a record figure of 15 million dollars.
From Riyadh to Malaga
Swiatek, who was not included in Poland’s initial squad for the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga, has rejoined at the last minute and will travel from Saudi Arabia to Spain to face Anabel Medina’s side in the round of 16 on November 13.
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