Mirra Andreeva decided against playing any tournament next week and Jasmine Paolini directly benefited from that since that means the Italian tennis star has clinched a spot for the WTA Finals.
Entering this week, three players had been left in contention for two remaining spots in Riyadh. Since Andreeva exited the WTA 500 event in Ningbo in the round-of-16 and Paolini reached the semifinal, the Russian was overtaken by the Italian at No. 7 in the Race to the WTA Finals. The third player battling to secure a place at the season-ending tournament is Elena Rybakina, who currently sits at No. 9 in the race.
Next week, both Paolini and Rybakina are slated to compete at the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo. Since Andreeva is still very much in contention to make the WTA Finals, the expectation was that she would also play next week. But instead, she decided to ditch playing next week due to reasons known to her.
Rybakina also benefits from Paolini's decision
Today, Rybakina is set to clash against Ekaterina Alexandrova for the Ningbo title. If she beats Alexandrova at the Chinese WTA 500 tournament, she will further reduce the gap between her and Andreeva and will only need to make the Tokyo semifinal next week. It is worth mentioning that the Kazakh has a first-round bye in Tokyo and that she will start her campaign in Tokyo from the round-of-16.
Meanwhile, by qualifying for the WTA Finals, Paolini joined Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys in Riyadh.
In her WTA Finals debut last year, Paolini went 1-2 and failed to make it past the group stage. It remains to be seen if the 29-year-old Italian can do better in her second appearance from November 01-08.
