Iga Swiatek finished her Wuhan Open semifinal on Saturday with a bandage around her left thigh, after her physio had told her three times to stop. Two days later she is the second seed at the Ningbo Open, chasing the last place at the WTA Finals against a rival who is not playing this week.
Swiatek led Maja Chwalinska 5-3 in the first set and had two set points before her compatriot came back to lead 6-5. She took a medical timeout there, and after treatment she could not push hard off the leg or chase balls across the court, losing 7-5, 6-1. Chwalinska went on to win the title on Sunday. Swiatek’s physio, Maciej Ryszczuk, wrote afterwards: “I told her three times to stop the match because it was a risk to her health. She made the decision herself to carry on playing, and since she’s made that decision, I’ll support her as best I can.”
Where the race stands. The defeat confirmed Elina Svitolina as the seventh qualifier for the WTA Finals at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, which run from 8 to 15 November. The 2018 champion joins Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka, Mirra Andreeva, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Linda Noskova. The eighth place belongs, for now, to Karolina Muchova, seventh on the Race leaderboard with 4,735 points. Swiatek is ninth on 4,189, 546 points behind. Marta Kostyuk is 10th on 3,920, 815 behind.
Who plays where. Muchova, who lost in the Wuhan round of 16 to Diana Shnaider, is not in the Ningbo draw, and she was not among the direct entrants the WTA listed on 1 October for Tokyo, the last WTA 500 of the season. Swiatek and Kostyuk were named in both fields. That leaves the two chasers two weeks of tennis against a total that is not moving unless Muchova adds an event.
The Ningbo draw. Swiatek, seeded second, and Kostyuk, seeded third, both have first-round byes and sit in the bottom half, so they can meet only in the semifinals. Swiatek opens against qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova or Marie Bouzkova, with Sorana Cirstea the seeded player in her quarter. Kostyuk opens against wild card Guo Hanyu or Ekaterina Alexandrova, with Elise Mertens the seed in hers. Defending champion Rybakina is the top seed, and Iva Jovic the fourth. Svitolina and Pegula, both named when the WTA announced the Ningbo field in September, are not in the draw. [UNVERIFIED: Swiatek’s fitness for Ningbo. No statement on her left thigh since Saturday was found on an approved source; she remains in the official draw released on 18 October.]
The arithmetic. A Ningbo title is worth 500 points, a final 325 and a semifinal 195, and the Tokyo champion also earns 500. Even a Ningbo title would not on its own close Swiatek’s 546-point gap, and Kostyuk is further back than a single title can cover. Each of them needs a deep run in both weeks. For how results count toward the leaderboard, see our explainers on the Race to the WTA Finals and WTA Finals qualification.
What it means for Swiatek. She has played every WTA Finals since 2021 and won the title in 2023. Before Wuhan she called the chase new territory. “Obviously I’m aware of the situation and it would be great to get into the Finals, for sure it’s our goal,” she said. “It’s the first time I’ve faced a situation like that, to get into the finals.”
What’s next. Main-draw play in Ningbo began on Monday, and the final is on Sunday 25 October. Tokyo follows from 26 October to 1 November. Our Ningbo Open guide and Pan Pacific Open guide cover both events, and the ATP Finals and WTA Finals guide covers Indian Wells.
