Amanda Anisimova beat Jasmine Paolini in one of the best matches of 2025 at the China Open on Thursday, and victory for the American seals another new milestone in what has been an incredible season.<\/p>\n
World No 4 Anisimova<\/a> battled past Paolini 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 to not only reach the last four of the WTA 1000 event, but also seal her qualification for the WTA Finals, to be held in Riyadh this November.<\/p>\n It is the first time that the 24-year-old has qualified for the WTA Finals, and she is now one of the five women to seal her place in Riyadh \u2014 with the battle for the remaining three places well and truly on.<\/p>\n Heading into the China Open, world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> and world No 2 Iga Swiatek<\/a> were already qualified for the year-end championships, while defending WTA Finals champion Coco Gauff<\/a> sealed her spot by reaching the last eight in Beijing.<\/p>\n Gauff\u2019s points total for the year has increased thanks to Thursday\u2019s quarter-final win over Eva Lys, though two more players have now sealed their spot.<\/p>\n Thanks to her win over Paolini in a three-set thriller, Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Anisimova has officially sealed her spot, capping off a career-best season for the American \u2014 who now faces compatriot Gauff in the last four in Beijing.<\/p>\n And, Anisimova\u2019s win means that Australian Open champion Madison Keys<\/a> has also claimed her place for the first time since 2016, with the 30-year-old sitting fifth in the race on 4,450 points.<\/p>\n Keys did not enter the China Open this year and, as a Grand Slam winner, only needed to finish inside the top 20 to seal her WTA Finals place, though she has comfortably reached the top eight.<\/p>\n Emma Raducanu\u2019s remaining tournaments of 2025 revealed after China Open exit<\/a><\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz reigns supreme, Emma Raducanu reaches her big goal \u2013 2025 rankings predictions<\/a><\/p>\n Qualification for Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff, Anisimova, and Keys means that there are only three spots available in the WTA Finals left to grab.<\/p>\n And, Jessica Pegula currently looks set to be the next player to seal her place in the year-end championships, with the 31-year-old close to qualifying for the fourth straight season.<\/p>\n Pegula is currently on 4,423 points in the WTA Live Race, and will move above Keys\u2019 points tally should she beat Emma Navarro in an all-American China Open quarter-final clash on Friday.<\/p>\n Also close to sealing qualification is teen star Mirra Andreeva, with the 18-year-old looking to seal her debut appearance at the WTA Finals.<\/p>\n The Russian has already qualified in the doubles alongside Diana Shnaider, and is seventh in the singles race following her round-four China Open exit, sitting on 4,309 points.<\/p>\n That gives her a solid cushion over Elena Rybakina and Paolini, who currently look set to battle it out for the final spot in Riyadh.<\/p>\n Rybakina currently sits in eighth place with 3,806, with Paolini just behind on 3,741 points for the season.<\/p>\n Had Paolini beaten Anisimova in Beijing, she would have moved above Rybakina and occupied the crucial eighth spot in the race.<\/p>\n However, the Italian will now head to Wuhan still needing to chase down Rybakina, with both women having qualified for the 2024 WTA Finals.<\/p>\n Paolini, however, does have a solid cushion over 10th-placed Ekaterina Alexandrova, who herself has a significant lead over the rest of the field.<\/p>\n 1) Aryna Sabalenka, 9,610 \u2013 Q Read Next<\/strong>: How does Iga Swiatek\u2019s China Open exit affect world No 1 ranking battle with Aryna Sabalenka?<\/a><\/p>\n The post WTA Rankings Race to Riyadh: Anisimova & Keys join Sabalenka, Swiatek, Gauff in securing qualification<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Amanda Anisimova beat Jasmine Paolini in one of the best matches of 2025 at the China Open on Thursday, and victory for the American seals another new milestone in what has been an incredible season. World No 4 Anisimova battled past Paolini 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 to not only reach the last four of the WTA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1117\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Who has qualified?<\/h2>\n
Tennis News<\/h2>\n
Race to qualify<\/h2>\n
Live WTA Race to Riyadh (as of October 2, 2025)<\/h2>\n
\n2) Iga Swiatek, 8,153 \u2013 Q
\n3) Coco Gauff, 5,574 \u2013 Q
\n4) Amanda Anisimova, 5,298 \u2013 Q
\n5) Madison Keys, 4,450 \u2013 Q
\n6) Jessica Pegula, 4,423
\n7) Mirra Andreeva, 4,309
\n8) Elena Rybakina, 3,806
\nCutoff<\/em>
\n9) Jasmine Paolini, 3,741
\n10) Ekaterina Alexandrova, 3,136
\n11) Clara Tauson, 2,660
\n12) Elina Svitolina, 2,606
\n13) Emma Navarro, 2,515<\/p>\n