Maria Sakkari is out of contention for the WTA Finals after an up-and-down season and an agonizing defeat at the China Open.

The World No. 6 has faced a lot of difficulties on the WTA Tour as of late, including first-round exits at Wimbledon, the Canadian Open, and the US Open. After her defeat to Rebeka Masarova in New York, Sakkari tearfully declared that she wasn't sure what to do next and revealed that she was considering taking a break from the sport.

However, the Greek player came back strong a few weeks later at the Guadalajara Open AKRON where she ousted Caroline Garcia and Caroline Dolehide to win her first-ever WTA 1000 title. This revived discussions about her potentially qualifying for the WTA Finals, which will be held in Cancun, Mexico from October 29 - November 5.

However, in order for Sakkari to remain in contention, she had to make the semi-final of the China Open in Beijing. The 28-year-old made a strong start at the tournament, defeating Linda Fruhvirtova and Xinyu Wang to reach a quarter-final clash with Coco Gauff.

Ultimately, though, she was unable to overcome the consistency of the reigning US Open champion, and Gauff progressed to the semi-final of the WTA 1000 event with a tidy 6-2, 6-4 victory.

As a result, Sakkari just missed out on a chance to make the Top 8 in the race to Cancun and will be absent from this year's WTA Finals. She is set to compete at the Zhengzhou Open next week but will only be able to gain a maximum of 360 points, which is not enough to qualify.

In 2021, she became the first Greek player to qualify for the season-ending championship and made it through again in 2022. Sakkari reached the semi-finals at the tournament both times.

Sakkari's defeat means that the entry list for the 2023 WTA Finals has been confirmed, with Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Gauff, Elena Rybakina, and Jessica Pegula having already qualified prior to this after they surpassed the threshold of 3650 points.

The three players whose spots were decided after the events of the China Open were Marketa Vondrousova, Ons Jabeur, and Karolina Muchova, who qualified in sixth, seventh, and eighth place respectively.