Madison Keys remains at No 1 in the Live WTA Rankings Race for the WTA Finals, but there are several rising stars among the big names in the current top eight.
The 2025 WTA Finals will once be staged in Saudi Arabia in November with eight players competing for the biggest prize pot in women’s tennis.
The official prize money figures are yet to be released, but last year Coco Gauff won $4.8m after winning the tournament.
The top seven women in the Rankings Race To Riyadh qualify for the tournament while one spot is reserved for a current-year Grand Slam winner who sits between eighth and 20th in the rankings.
If that player is among the top seven, then the final spot will go to the player at No 8 in the Race.
There are also two alternate spots available for the players usually ranked No 9 and No 10 and they will fill in if anyone withdraws from the tournament.
The four Grand Slams – where 2,000 points are on offer to each of the winners with the runners-up earning 1,300 – are usually key to the players who qualify. Next are the WTA 1000 events and three tournaments at this level have already been staged in the first few months of the 2025 season.
Unsurprisingly, the winner of the only Grand Slam so far this year, Madison Keys, currently tops the Race thanks to the 2,000 points she earned with her Australian Open title. She also won the Adelaide International and reached the semi-final of the WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open.
Keys has a slim lead over Australian Open runner-up Aryna Sabalenka and with the Belarusian losing in the Indian Wells final, the American maintained her 364-point lead.
The American has 2,944 points, Sabalenka sits on 2580 and Mirra Andreeva moved to 2,500 with her Indian Wells title run.
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Andreeva is the form player on the WTA Tour as she won her maiden WTA 1000 title at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February and has now followed it up with a second big trophy in the United States.
Her win over Iga Swiatek in the semi-final saw her move past the five-time Grand Slam winner in the Race and she is now on Sabalenka’s tail.
Fellow rising star Clara Tauson, who lost the Dubai final against Andreeva, is also comfortably in the top eight while Qatar Open champion Amanda Anisimova is just outside the qualifying spots at No 9.
World No 3 Gauff is currently very secure of her position in the official WTA Rankings as she sits behind Sabalenka and Swiatek, but she has work to do in the Live Race as she is at No 12.
After steering the United States to the United Cup final, Gauff lost in the quarter-final of the Australian Open and followed it up with two early exits in the Middle East Swing before losing in the third round in Indian Wells.
But the 2025 WTA Tour season is only three months and there are still three Grand Slams and seven WTA 1000 tournaments remaining on the calendar.
Top 12 In WTA Rankings Race
1. Madison Keys – 2,944
2. Aryna Sabalenka – 2,580
3. Mirra Andreeva – 2,500
4. Iga Swiatek – 2,100
5. Elena Rybakina – 1,310
6. Clara Tauson – 1,300
7. Emma Navarro – 1,234
8. Jessica Pegula – 1,160
9. Amanda Anisimova – 1,145
10. Belinda Bencic – 1,137
11. Paula Badosa – 1,135
12. Coco Gauff – 1,070
The post WTA Rankings Race To Riyadh: Keys No 1, Andreeva moves ahead of Swiatek, Gauff with work to do appeared first on Tennis365.
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