Terry Dwayne Ashford Indacarseat DatGuY StreetNOW News JIC Reporting WTA Finals Guadalajara Mexico. Held from Nov 10th until November 17th, 2021. Terry Dwayne Ashford, Reporting for you for Tennis Specifically. The opening rounds of the Year End WTA finals have begun. And we have some updates for you on the winners and losers first round match ups.



First things come first, however. The 8-player field consists of the actual top eight players on the WTA Tour for the year.

Those who earned the top rankings in point tally made the lucrative year end finals held in Guadalupa Mexico this 2021 season.



The all European field of players.


Link to the WTA FINALS Official Website - https://wtafinalsgdl.com


Aryna Sabalenka carried her dominant form from the end of 2020 into the start of 2021, winning the first tournament of the year in Abu Dhabi. A string of three-set losses followed: to Serena Williams in the Australian Open fourth round, to Muguruza in Doha and Dubai, and to Barty in Miami and the final of Stuttgart. Sabalenka avenged the losses to Barty in the final of Madrid to claim the biggest title of her career. Sabalenka was upset in the third round of the French Open by eventual finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
After arriving in Indian Wells, Sabalenka tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced to withdraw. She accepted a wild card to play in Moscow and suffered only her second straight set loss of the season in the quarterfinals. Sabalenka will be making her WTA Finals debut.
Barbora Krejčíková won the French Open.
Barbora Krejčíková lost in the second round of her first four tournaments of 2021. In Dubai, she reached the final without dropping a set and lost to Muguruza. After a first round loss to Paula Badosa in Madrid, Krejcikova held match points against Iga Świątek in Rome. She did not lose a match for the next eight weeks, winning her first WTA title in Strasbourg and her first singles Grand Slam at the French Open.

Karolína Plíšková reached the final of the Wimbledon Championships.Karolína Plíšková was announced as the fourth qualifier on October 4.
Karolína Plíšková had a nightmare start to the year, losing to Karolína Muchová in the third round of the Australian after blowing a 5–0 lead in the second set. Jessica Pegula eliminated her in the early rounds of Doha, Dubai, and Miami. She served for the match against Barty in Stuttgart but lost in three sets. Plíšková made the final of Rome but lost to Iga Świątek, 6–0 6–0. She lost to Sloane Stephens in the second round of the French Open and failed to defend her title in Eastbourne. Entering Wimbledon outside the top 10 for the first time since 2016, Plíšková made the final with a comeback win over Sabalenka in the semifinals. In the championship match, Plíšková lost to Ashleigh Barty in three sets.

Maria Sakkari qualified for the first time at the WTA Finals.On October 21, Maria Sakkari was announced as the fifth qualifier. Maria Sakkari became the first Greek player to qualify for the WTA Finals. Sakkari had a very strong start to the season reaching consecutive semifinals in Abu Dhabi and Melbourne's Grampians Trophy.

Iga Świątek became the player first born in the 21th century to qualify at the WTA Finals.
On October 25, Iga Świątek, Garbiñe Muguruza, and Paula Badosa were announced as the next three qualifiers.
Iga Świątek became the first player born in the 21st century to qualify for the WTA Finals on October 25. She was the only player this year to have reached the second week of all four grand slam tournaments, although she lost in the fourth round of three of those four majors. Only at the French Open, did she reach the quarterfinals where her title defense was ended by Sakkari. Among the WTA events, she won her second career title in Adelaide in February, defeating Belinda Bencic in the final. After three straight third round losses in Dubai, Miami and Madrid, Świątek won her third WTA singles title in Rome, defeating former champions, Elina Svitolina and Plíšková en route to the title. At the Olympics, she suffered a second round defeat at the hands of Paula Badosa. During the fall season, she made the semifinal in Ostrava, losing to Sakkari again and also lost in fourth round at Indian Wells to Jeļena Ostapenko in a battle between two former Roland Garros champions.


Garbiñe Muguruza qualified at the WTA Finals for the fourth time.
Garbiñe Muguruza qualified for the WTA Finals for the fourth time in her career. She reached the final in just her second event of the season, at Melbourne's Yarra Valley Classic, losing to Barty in the title match. At the Australian Open, she was leading 5-3 in the final set of her fourth round match against the eventual champion, Naomi Osaka, before losing four games in a row and the match. She continued her strong run during the Gulf swing, reaching the final in Doha, where she lost to Petra Kvitová. She won her eighth career title in Dubai, defeating Krejčíková in the final. In Miami, she lost in the third round to Bianca Andreescu. In Charleston, she suffered from an injury during her third round match against Yulia Putintseva, that derailed her clay season as she was forced to withdraw from her home event in Madrid and lost in third and first round of Rome and Roland Garros respectively. A quarterfinal appearance in Berlin on grass was followed by a third round loss to Ons Jabeur at Wimbledon. She also lost in the first round in Montréal to Kateřina Siniaková and third round and fourth round of Cincinnati and US Open respectively to the same player, Krejčíková on both occasions. She won her ninth WTA title in Chicago, defeating Jabeur in the final before losing her opening match in Indian Wells. In Moscow, she reached the quarterfinals, losing to Anett Kontaveit.


Paola Badosa qualified at the WTA Finals for the first time.
Paula Badosa qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time in her career. After a third round defeat in Abu Dhabi and first round loss at the Australian Open, Badosa reached her first semifinal of the season in Lyon, losing to eventual champion Clara Tauson. After suffering some hiccups in St. Petersburg and Miami, Badosa went on a tear during the clay season, defeating Belinda Bencic and World No. 1, Barty to reach the semifinals in Charleston, losing to eventual champion, Veronika Kudermetova. She defeated Krejčíková and Bencic again en route to her first ever WTA 1000 semifinal in Madrid, becoming the first home player to reach the semifinal stage of the tournament. She then went on to win her first career WTA singles title in Belgrade, without dropping a set. At the French Open, she reached her first ever grand slam quarterfinal, losing to Tamara Zidanšek 6–8 in the third set. She also made the fourth round at Wimbledon, losing to Karolína Muchová. She reached the quarterfinals at both the Tokyo Olympics, where she had to retired due to a heatstroke, and Cincinnati, where she also retired due to shoulder pain. That pain made Badosa arrive at the US Open not 100% fit, suffering a shocking second round defeat to Varvara Gracheva. Following a second round loss in Ostrava, Badosa won the second and the biggest title of her career in Indian Wells, with wins over Dayana Yastremska, Coco Gauff, Krejćíková, Angelique Kerber, Ons Jabeur and Victoria Azarenka along the way. She also became the first Spanish woman to win that tournament.


Annet Kontaveit claimed four titles in the year to qualify for the first time at the WTA Finals.
On October 31, Anett Kontaveit was announced as the final qualifier on 31 October, after winning the title in Cluj-Napoca.
Anett Kontaveit qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time in her career, and became the first Estonian player to qualify for the WTA Finals.

Resource: Wikipedia for additional readings.