Round robin play at the 2025 WTA Finals will begin Saturday, Nov. 1. The field for this season-ending tournament consists of the top eight women's singles players from the 2025 season. The WTA Finals will be played on indoor hard courts at King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh. Unlike the rest of the WTA Tour schedule, the WTA Finals employs a round robin format rather than a bracket at the start, with the eight competitors separated into two groups of four.
The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals, with the winners of those matches proceeding to the championship match. The WTA Finals champion can earn as many as 1,500 ranking points with a clean sweep. One group consists of No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 3 Coco Gauff, No. 5 Jessica Pegula and No. 8 Jasmine Paolini, while No. 2 Iga Swiatek, No. 4 Amanda Anisimova, No. 6 Elena Rybakina and No. 7 Madison Keys comprise the other group. Below are the top title contenders and dark horses for the 2025 WTA Finals.
Favorite to Win the 2025 WTA Finals
Aryna Sabalenka: Sabalenka doesn't have a WTA Finals title on her resume, which is a bit surprising given her excellent hard-court results. The world No. 1 has played in the championship match of the last six hard-court Grand Slams, winning four of them. Three of Sabalenka's four titles in 2025 have come on hard courts, highlighted by her U.S. Open title
Round robin play at the 2025 WTA Finals will begin Saturday, Nov. 1. The field for this season-ending tournament consists of the top eight women's singles players from the 2025 season. The WTA Finals will be played on indoor hard courts at King Saud University Indoor Arena in Riyadh. Unlike the rest of the WTA Tour schedule, the WTA Finals employs a round robin format rather than a bracket at the start, with the eight competitors separated into two groups of four.
The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals, with the winners of those matches proceeding to the championship match. The WTA Finals champion can earn as many as 1,500 ranking points with a clean sweep. One group consists of No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 3 Coco Gauff, No. 5 Jessica Pegula and No. 8 Jasmine Paolini, while No. 2 Iga Swiatek, No. 4 Amanda Anisimova, No. 6 Elena Rybakina and No. 7 Madison Keys comprise the other group. Below are the top title contenders and dark horses for the 2025 WTA Finals.
Favorite to Win the 2025 WTA Finals
Aryna Sabalenka: Sabalenka doesn't have a WTA Finals title on her resume, which is a bit surprising given her excellent hard-court results. The world No. 1 has played in the championship match of the last six hard-court Grand Slams, winning four of them. Three of Sabalenka's four titles in 2025 have come on hard courts, highlighted by her U.S. Open title defense in September. She has outplayed the rest of the WTA field by a wide enough margin to secure the year-end No. 1 ranking no matter what happens at the WTA Finals. The big-hitting Belarusian actually has a losing 5-6 head-to-head record against Gauff, but Sabalenka's 8-3 against Pegula and 5-2 against Paolini.
In the Mix to Win the 2025 WTA Finals
Iga Swiatek: Swiatek got in a groove in the second half of 2025 after a disappointing first half, winning her sixth career Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in July before adding a WTA 1000 title at the Cincinnati Open in August and a WTA 500 title at the Korea Open in September. The latter two titles both came on hard courts. While Swiatek has historically played her best tennis in slower conditions, she has the game to succeed anywhere, and the second-ranked Pole won the WTA Finals in 2023. She's the top-ranked player in her group and favored to reach at least the semifinals. If Iga can get to the championship match, you can pretty much pencil her in for the trophy given her 25-5 record in WTA Tour finals, including an absurd 18-2 on the biggest stages (Grand Slams, WTA Finals and WTA 1000 events).
Coco Gauff: Gauff's the defending champion here, and after a disappointing summer hard-court swing, the 2025 French Open champion has built up some momentum heading into the WTA Finals by claiming a hard-court WTA 1000 title at the Wuhan Open, which is the last tournament that featured a fully competitive field with the world's top women's players. Interestingly, Gauff's 6-5 head-to-head record against Sabalenka is actually the 21-year-old American's best mark among her round robin group matchups, as Gauff's only 3-3 against Paolini and 3-4 against Pegula. Getting out of the group stage won't be easy for world No. 3, but Gauff's capable offense mixed with the best defense among the WTA Finals field gives Gauff multiple ways to win matches.
Sleepers to Win the 2025 WTA Finals
Amanda Anisimova: Anisimova claimed her second hard-court WTA 1000 title of the year at the China Open earlier in October, so a deep run at the WTA Finals would be the cherry on top of a breakout year for the 24-year-old American, who reached the finals of the last two Grand Slams. Anisimova uses her exquisite timing and power to get on the front foot in baseline rallies, putting her in control of almost every match, regardless of opponent. With her mental game in a much better place and Anisimova limiting error-prone patches more effectively compared to previous years, she has climbed to No. 4 in the world and may not be done rising yet. Anisimova has limited head-to-head experience against the other three players in her group, as she hasn't faced Rybakina or Keys while posting a 1-1 record against Swiatek.
Elena Rybakina: The lack of outdoor elements to disrupt Rybakina's timing should allow the big hitter to get into a rhythm, especially on serve. Rybakina has also been playing the most competitive tennis of the WTA Finals field in recent weeks, as she won all six of the matches she played at the Ningbo Open and Japan Open to lock down her spot in the top eight, edging out Mirra Andreeva. Paolini's the only other member of the WTA Finals field that has played a tournament since the Wuhan Open wrapped up Oct. 12, and Rybakina defeated Paolini at the Ningbo Open. Rybakina's 3-3 against Keys and a respectable 4-6 against Swiatek.
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