The 2020 WTA Finals, also known by its sponsored name Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen, was a women's tennis tournament that was scheduled to be held in Shenzhen, China. It would have been the 50th edition of the singles event and the 45th edition of the doubles competition,[1] contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams.[2]

2020 WTA Finals
DateOctober 26 – November 2 (cancelled)
Edition50th (singles) / 45th (doubles)
Draw8S / 8D
Prize money$14,000,000
SurfaceHard (indoor)
LocationShenzhen, China
VenueShenzhen Bay Sports Centre
← 2019 · WTA Finals · 2021 →

However, the tournament was cancelled by the WTA, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on 24 July 2020.[3]

Tournament

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The 2020 WTA Finals was scheduled to take place at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center the week of October 26, 2020. It would have been the 50th edition of the event.[4] The tournament would have been run by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) as part of the 2020 WTA Tour. Shenzhen would have been the tenth city to host the WTA Finals since the tournament's inauguration in 1972.

Qualifying

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In the singles, point totals are calculated by combining point totals from sixteen tournaments. Of these sixteen tournaments, a player's results from the four Grand Slam events, the four Premier Mandatory tournaments, and (for the top 20 players at the end of 2019) the best results from two Premier 5 tournaments must be included.
In the doubles, point totals are calculated by any combination of eleven tournaments throughout the year. Unlike in the singles, this combination does not need to include results from the Grand-Slam or Premier-level tournaments.

Format

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Both the singles and doubles event features eight players/teams in a round robin event, split into two groups of four. Over the first four days of competition, each player/team meets the other three players/teams in her group, with the top two in each group advancing to the semifinals. The first-placed player/team in one group meets the second-placed player/team in the other group, and vice versa. The winners of each semifinal meet in the championship match.

Round robin tie-breaking methods

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The final standings are made using these methods:

  1. Greatest number of [match] wins.
  2. Greatest number of matches played.
  3. Head-to-head results if only two players are tied, or if three players are tied then:
a. If three players each have the same number of wins, a player having played less than all three matches is automatically eliminated and the player advancing to the single elimination competition is the winner of the match-up of the two remaining tied players.
b. Highest percentage of sets won.
c. Highest percentage of games won.

Prize money and points

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The total prize money for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals 2019 is US$14,000,000. The tables below are based on the updated draw sheet information.

Porsche Race to Shenzhen

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On 16 March 2020, the WTA rankings were frozen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] As a result of the pandemic, the Race to Shenzhen has been cancelled and the promotion is no longer valid. The WTA rankings would be used for the singles qualification.

Below is the unofficial WTA Singles Race ranking for only 2020 events.

Players in gold (*) would have qualified for the WTA Finals.

Rank Player Grand Slam Premier Mandatory Best two
Premier 5
Best other Total
points
Tourn WTA
Titles
AUS WI[a] USO FO[b] IW[c] MI[c] MA[d] BE[e] 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6
1*   Sofia Kenin W
2000
R16
240
F
1300
R32
1
R32
1
W
280
R16
55
R16
55
R32
1
R32
1
3,934 10 2
2*   Naomi Osaka R32
130
W
2000
A
0
F
585
SF
185
2,900 4 1
3*   Simona Halep SF
780
A
0
R16
240
W
900
W
470
W
280
QF
100
2,770 6 3
4*   Victoria Azarenka A
0
F
1300
R64
70
W
900
QF
190
F
305
R32
1
R32
1
2,767 7 1
5*   Iga Świątek R16
240
R32
130
W
2000
R32
60
R64
1
R32
1
2,432 6 1
6*   Aryna Sabalenka R128
10
R64
70
R32
130
R16
30
W
900
R16
105
W
470
W
280
SF
185
SF
110
QF
100
R16
30
2,420 12 3
7*   Petra Kvitová QF
430
R16
240
SF
780
F
585
R32
1
SF
185
QF
100
2,321 7 0
8*   Garbiñe Muguruza F
1300
R64
70
R32
130
SF
350
QF
190
SF
110
QF
100
QF
60
2,310 8 0
Alternates
9   Elise Mertens R16
240
QF
430
R32
130
R16
55
R32
1
SF
350
QF
190
F
180
F
180
QF
100
R32
60
QF
60
QF
60
2,036 13 0
10   Elena Rybakina R32
130
R64
70
R64
70
R32
1
R16
105
R16
105
F
305
F
305
W
280
F
180
F
180
R32
1
1,732 12 1
  1. ^ Wimbledon was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.[6]
  2. ^ French Open was postponed to September due to the coronavirus pandemic.[7]
  3. ^ a b Indian Wells Open and Miami Open were suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic.[8][9]
  4. ^ Madrid Open was initially rescheduled to September, but later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10]
  5. ^ China Open was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[11]

Below is the unofficial WTA Doubles Race ranking for only 2020 events.

Players in gold (*) would have qualified for the WTA Finals.

Rank Team Points Total Points Tourn WTA
Titles
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1*   Tímea Babos
  Kristina Mladenovic
W
2000
W
2000
SF
350
R16
120
4,470 4 2
2*   Hsieh Su-wei
  Barbora Strýcová
F
1300
W
900
W
900
W
470
W
470
R16
240
4,280 6 4
3*   Barbora Krejčíková
  Kateřina Siniaková
SF
780
SF
780
SF
350
W
280
SF
185
SF
110
2,485 6 1
4*   Nicole Melichar
  Xu Yifan
F
650
F
585
W
470
QF
190
QF
100
QF
100
R64
10
2,105 7 1
5*   Hayley Carter
  Luisa Stefani
SF
350
W
280
R16
240
R16
240
QF
215
F
180
W
160
R16
105
QF
100
W
80
R32
1
1,951 11 1
6*   Shuko Aoyama
  Ena Shibahara
W
470
QF
430
SF
350
R16
240
R16
120
SF
110
R16
105
QF
100
R16
1
R32
1
R32
1
1,928 11 1
7*   Alexa Guarachi
  Desirae Krawczyk
F
1300
W
280
SF
110
R16
105
R32
10
R32
1
R16
1
1,807 7 1
8*   Květa Peschke
  Demi Schuurs
W
900
R16
240
QF
215
R32
130
QF
100
R16
55
R16
1
1,641 7 1
Alternates
9   Elise Mertens
  Aryna Sabalenka
W
470
QF
430
QF
215
QF
190
R32
130
QF
105
QF
60
1,600 7 1
10   Gabriela Dabrowski
  Jeļena Ostapenko
F
585
QF
430
R16
240
SF
110
1,365 4 0

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "WTA Finals at WTA Official Website". wtatennis.com. WTA. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  2. ^ "2020 WTA calendar" (PDF). wtatennis.com. WTA Tour, Inc. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  3. ^ "WTA tournaments in China cancelled for 2020". WTA. 24 July 2020.
  4. ^ "2020 WTA Calendar". wtatennis.com. WTA. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  5. ^ "Porsche Race to Shenzen - Point Leaders" (PDF). WTA. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  6. ^ Carayol, Tumaini (1 April 2020). "Wimbledon 2020 cancelled in response to coronavirus pandemic". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  7. ^ "French Open Postponed to Late September Because of Coronavirus". The New York Times. 17 March 2020.
  8. ^ Rothenberg, Ben; Clarey, Christopher (9 March 2020). "Indian Wells Tennis Tournament Canceled Because of Coronavirus Outbreak". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  9. ^ "2020 Miami Open will not take place due to COVID-19". WTA. 12 March 2020.
  10. ^ "WTA announces updated 2020 provisional calendar". WTA. 17 June 2020.
  11. ^ "WTA tournaments in China cancelled for 2020". WTA. 23 July 2020.
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