Only two weeks of competition remain before the end of the 2025 WTA Tour season, and the Race to Riyadh has been updated. The Asian Swing enters its final phase following the WTA 500 Ningbo Open and WTA 250 Osaka Open, which concluded with Elena Rybakina and Leylah Fernandez as the champions of the week.

The Italian Jasmine Paolini was the last player to join the WTA Finals qualification list, confirmed as the 7th player to enter the draw after reaching the semi-finals in Ningbo. Although she was defeated by her main pursuer—Elena Rybakina—it was enough for the 29-year-old to distance herself from Mirra Andreeva and leave the discussion for the 8th place as a debate between only two parties: the Kazakh against the Russian teenager.

Andreeva chose not to play tournaments this week, but perhaps she did not expect Paolini and Rybakina to be so consistent in recent weeks. The teenager only reached the third round at the US Open, the Round of 16 in Beijing, and then fell in her debuts in Wuhan and Ningbo. Andreeva barely scored points in the latter part of the year, despite having remained inside the Top-5 for the previous eight months.

Thus, the players secured among the contenders for the title at the WTA Finals include the four Grand Slam champions of the year: Madison Keys (Australian Open), Coco Gauff (French Open), Iga Swiatek (Wimbledon), and Aryna Sabalenka (US Open). They are joined by two-time major finalist Amanda Anisimova and two-time WTA 1000 finalist Jessica Pegula, who won three titles this season (WTA 500 Charleston and Bad Homburg, WTA 250 Austin). Four Americans are secured in the competition, something that has not happened for two decades.

The dispute is now closed between Mirra Andreeva (8th, 4,319 points) and Elena Rybakina (9th, 4,305 points). The Russian had a difficult time in recent weeks, suffering consecutive defeats to Laura Siegemund in Wuhan and Zhu Lin in Ningbo, both after squandering a one-set lead. By not scoring points, she left a chance to be caught by her pursuers, over whom she had a wide advantage just a few weeks ago.

Paolini has had a strong presence in the latter part of the year, reaching the quarter-finals at the China Open, and the semi-finals at the Wuhan and Ningbo Opens, with an 8-3 record in the Asian Swing, which was enough to surpass Andreeva and seize the 7th place in the Race. While Andreeva rests in 8th place, Rybakina landed in 9th after reaching the quarter-finals in Wuhan and winning the title in Ningbo. She only needs to accumulate 15 points to surpass Andreeva and has one last tournament this week at the Tokyo Open.

However, it won't be easy for the 2022 Wimbledon champion to secure the final spot. The mandatory tournament rule considers only the 18 best tournaments, seven of which are exclusively WTA 500 and WTA 250 events. Given this, Rybakina will not score points unless she reaches at least the semi-finals in Tokyo. The Kazakh received a first-round bye, so she begins the tournament in the Round of 16, where she must face Leylah Fernandez—who comes from beating qualifier Maria Sakkari in straight sets. If she advances, she will face the winner between Victoria Mboko (9th) and Eva Lys (Qualifier); both matches will be decided this Thursday.

Meanwhile, 10th place is comfortably held by Ekaterina Alexandrova (10th)—who is guaranteed to finish the year in the Top-10, with a wide lead over Clara Tauson (2,770). The Russian reached the final in Ningbo, and despite the loss to Rybakina, she added 300 points to widen her distance from the Dane and ensure this career milestone at the age of 30.

Others who added points in the Race include the Russian Diana Shnaider—a semi-finalist in Ningbo who reached 18th place—and Tereza Valentova, who, after reaching the Osaka final, entered the Top-100 for the first time in her career.