WTA Press Release, October 14, 2022
The WTA announced that Jessica Pegula and the doubles teams of Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko and Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens have qualified for the 2022 WTA Finals.
This will be Pegula’s debut appearance at the WTA Finals and she joins WTA World No.1 Iga Swiatek and Ons Jabeur in the singles draw for the prestigious season-ending tournament, with five qualification places remaining.
Kichenok and Ostapenko along with Kudermetova and Mertens will also be making their debuts as a team at the WTA Finals. With defending champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in addition to Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos having secured their qualification already, just four places now remain in the doubles draw for Fort Worth.
Pegula has enjoyed a break-out year in 2022, reaching the biggest final of her career at the WTA 1000 Mutua Madrid Open, and making a further two semifinals also at WTA 1000 level, at the Miami Open presented by Itaú and the National Bank Open presented by Rogers (Toronto). In addition Pegula made the quarterfinals at three of this season’s Grand Slams, at the Australian Open, Roland-Garros and the US Open, the latter propelling her to a new career-high ranking of No.5 (September 12).
Her qualification for the WTA Finals was secured following her win over CoCo Vandeweghe at the San Diego Open.
Jelena Ostapenko and Lyudmyla Kichenok will be appearing at the WTA Finals in doubles for the first time in their careers, and have enjoyed a standout season which has seen them win two titles, at the WTA 1000 Western & Southern in Cincinnati and WTA 250 Rothesay Classic Birmingham. The pair reached an additional set of finals at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and the Rothesay International Eastbourne, both at WTA 500 level.
Both posted new career-high rankings in doubles this season on September 12 following their excellent year, Kichenok at No.9 and Ostapenko at No.7. Ostapenko has WTA Finals experience in singles, contesting the group stage in 2017.
Elise Mertens has qualified for her fourth consecutive WTA Finals, having appeared in 2018 (with Demi Schuurs), 2019 (with Aryna Sabalenka) and 2021 (with Hsieh Su-Wei, reaching the final), while partner Veronika Kudermetova is appearing at the prestigious season-ending event for the first time. The team have reached four finals this season, winning the WTA 500 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and contesting the title match at WTA 1000 events at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open (Doha) and Miami Open presented by Itaú and the WTA 250 Libema Open (‘s-Hertogenbosch).
The pair have reached a further three semifinals this season, at the Australian Open, WTA 1000 Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati) and the Toray Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo). Kudermetova rose to No.2 in the world on June 6 courtesy of their results this year, while Mertens is a former World No.1 in doubles, ascending to the top spot for the first time on May 10, 2021.
The 2022 WTA Finals features the top 8 singles players and doubles teams on the Race to the WTA Finals, competing in a round-robin format with the singles champion lifting the WTA Finals Billie Jean King Trophy and the doubles champions earning the WTA Finals Martina Navratilova Trophy.
Buy your tickets for 2022 WTA Finals via Ticketmaster.
