Only one ticket remains in the WTA Rankings Race To Indian Wells with Elina Svitolina the latest to secure her place at the season-ending tournament.
Although the WTA has yet to officially confirm that Svitolina has punched her ticket to the lucrative event, the Ukrainian moved ahead of the projected cut-off mark with her second-round win at the Wuhan Open.
That leaves only one spot open for the eight-player tournament in the United States, with Karolina Muchova, Marta Kostyuk, Iga Swiatek and Iva Jovic still in the hunt.
Kostyuk’s second-round defeat in Wuhan means she is all but out of the race, while Jovic has an outside chance as she is well adrift, leaving Muchova and Swiatek as the two main candidates, although the latter has some ground to make up.
WTA News
Reigning world No 1 Elena Rybakina was the first to book her spot and she will be joined by Aryna Sabalenka, Mirra Andreeva, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Linda Noskova and Svitolina.
Besides Svitolina, the WTA is also yet to rubber-stamp Pegula and Gauff’s tickets, but they are mathematically assured of playing in Indian Wells.
Live WTA Rankings Race
1. Elena Rybakina – 7,502 ✓
2. Aryna Sabalenka – 6,560 ✓
3. Mirra Andreeva – 6,371 ✓
4. Jessica Pegula – 5,835 ✓
5. Coco Gauff – 5,774 ✓
6. Elina Svitolina – 5,036 ✓
7. Karolina Muchova – 4,625
8. Linda Noskova – 4,354 ✓
9. Marta Kostyuk – 3,920
10. Iga Swiatek – 3,919
11. Iva Jovic – 2,841
2026 WTA Finals line-up:
Elena Rybakina
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 3
The three-time Grand Slam winner secured her fourth appearance at the season-ending event on the back of her US Open title run in September.
Rybakina, who won last year’s WTA Finals undefeated, also won the Australian Open and Stuttgart Open and finished runner-up at the Indian Wells Open and Canadian Open.
Aryna Sabalenka
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 5
The world No 2 has two runner-up finishes at the WTA Finals as she lost the 2022 final against Caroline Garica and against Rybakina last year.
Sabalenka also finished runner-up to Rybakina at this year’s Australian Open and US Open while she won the Indian Wells Open, Miami Open and Brisbane International.
Mirra Andreeva
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 0
The teenager recently secured a career-high No 3 in the WTA Rankings with her jump coming on the back of her maiden Grand Slam at the French Open when she defeated Maja Chwalinska.
But it’s not just at Roland Garros where she starred as she also won the Adelaide International and Linz Open, and finished runner-up at the Madrid Open and last week’s China Open.
Andreeva was an unused alternate at the 2025 WTA Finals.
Linda Noskova
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 0
Like Andreeva, Noskova will make her debut at the season-ending event with her qualification coming on the back of her Wimbledon title run.
Although the Czech is eighth in the WTA Rankings Race and behind Svitolina, she has qualified as the highest-ranked current-year Grand Slam winner.
The 21-year-old also won the Berlin Open in June and was a quarter-finalist at the US Open.
Jessica Pegula
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 4
Pegula is set for a fifth consecutive appearance at the WTA Finals and she qualified with two titles – the Dubai Tennis Championships and Charleston Open – while she was a runner-up in Berlin, Washington DC and Cincinnati.
The American reached the 2024 WTA Finals, but lost in straight sets against Swiatek while last year she made the semi-finals.
Coco Gauff
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 4
The two-time Grand Slam winner has also qualified for a fifth year in a row and she was crowned WTA Finals champion in 2024 when she defeated Zheng Qinwen in the final while last year she failed to make it out of the group stage.
Gauff’s 2026 qualification comes on the back of winning the Cincinnati Open while she was a runner-up in Miami and Rome.
Elina Svitolina
Previous WTA Finals appearances: 3
The former world No 3 is set for her first WTA Finals appearance since 2019 when she finished runner-up to Ashleigh Barty. The Ukrainian won the title the previous year when she beat Sloane Stephens in the final.
Svitolina won the Italian Open and Auckland Open, and finished runner-up in Dubai.
