Swiatek, Jabeur among first qualifiers announced for 2022 WTA final

LONDON: The WTA on Monday announced that World No.1 Iga Swiatek, US Open finalist Ons Jabeur and the doubles team of Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova have secured their qualification for the 2022 WTA Finals.

The season-ending tournament, which is taking place in Fort Worth, Texas, at the cutting-edge Dickies Arena as the event returns to the United States for the first time since 2005, will mark Jabeur's first participation there and Swiatek's second.

The pairing of Krejcikova and Siniakova return as defending champions in what will be their fourth successive team appearance. "I'm really excited to qualify for the WTA Finals this year for the second time in my career and I'm really looking forward to playing in front of the fans in Fort Worth," WTA.com quoted Swiatek as saying.

The 21-year-old Polish player Swiatek won back-to-back championships at the Roland Garros, Internazionali BNL d'Italia, Miami Open presented by Ita, Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Qatar TotalEnergies Open, and BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. On Saturday at the US Open, she won her third Grand Slam championship.

Jabeur of Tunisia, who this season won the greatest titles of her career at the WTA 1000 level Mutua Marid Open and WTA 500 bett1open, becomes the first Arab woman to qualify for the WTA Finals (Berlin).

"It is such an honour to qualify for the WTA Finals. It was my goal from the beginning of the season to play the tournament and I can't wait to compete as one of the top 8 players in the world," Jabeur said.

Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic have qualified for the WTA Finals after winning the US Open doubles championship over the weekend.

This will be their fourth consecutive appearance. "We are so excited that we are going to play the WTA Finals again," Siniakova said. "We are really looking forward to playing in Fort Worth in Texas and hopefully defending our title," added Krejcikova.