Marta Kostyuk lost the first set 6-4 to Ekaterina Alexandrova on Wednesday, took a medical timeout and did not play a second. The Ukrainian, seeded third at the Ningbo Open, retired, and the last open place at the WTA Finals went with her. Karolina Muchova, who is not playing this week, is the eighth and final singles qualifier for Indian Wells. Kostyuk had needed to reach the Ningbo final to stop her.
Kostyuk missed the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in September with a wrist injury, and she wrote afterwards that the problem had returned. “The pain in my wrist came back, and as much as I want to keep playing, I know I need to give it more time to recover,” Kostyuk wrote on social media.
Second time qualified. Muchova, 30, has qualified for the season-ending championships once before, in 2023, and never got on court. A right wrist injury forced her to withdraw from Cancun that year, and Maria Sakkari took her place as the first alternate. This time she arrives with the best season of her career behind her: titles on hard court at the WTA 1000 in Doha and on grass at the WTA 500 in Bad Homburg, a final on clay in Stuttgart, and a second Grand Slam final, at Wimbledon, where she lost to Linda Noskova. She then teamed up with Noskova to win the Billie Jean King Cup for the Czech Republic.
She did it without playing in China after her loss to Diana Shnaider in the Wuhan last 16. Muchova finished the chase on 4,735 points in the Race. Iga Swiatek, on 4,189, could not catch her once she withdrew from Ningbo with a left thigh injury and ended her season. Kostyuk, on 3,920, was the last player with a mathematical route.
The field. Muchova joins world No. 1 Elena Rybakina, Indian Wells and Miami champion Aryna Sabalenka, Roland Garros champion Mirra Andreeva, Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Elina Svitolina. The FAGE WTA Finals run from 8 to 15 November at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, with round-robin play before the semifinals and final. How the eight places are decided is set out in our explainer.
The alternates. The WTA names two alternates who can take the place of a qualifier who withdraws. The next three players in the Race are Swiatek, who will not play again this year, Kostyuk and Iva Jovic, on 2,931. Maja Chwalinska, the Wuhan champion, is next on 2,755 but withdrew from Ningbo with a left thigh injury. The WTA has not yet named its alternates; how the alternate role works is explained here.
Doubles. Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko, semifinalists last year, and Ellen Perez and Demi Schuurs also qualified on Wednesday, leaving one doubles place open. Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini hold eighth for now after losing 7-5, 6-3 in the Ningbo first round to top seeds Cristina Bucsa and Nicole Melichar-Martinez, who had already qualified.
In Ningbo. Alexandrova, last year’s runner-up, is in her second straight Ningbo quarterfinal and has spent 1 hour, 53 minutes on court across two matches. Her opponent, Leylah Fernandez, came from 5-3 down in the first set to beat qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-3 in 3 hours, 3 minutes. Fernandez beat Alexandrova last week in Wuhan; Alexandrova leads their head-to-head 3-2, and their last three meetings have all gone to three sets. “Just enjoying the battle,” Fernandez said on court. “It was so tough, but it was also so much fun playing in front of a wonderful crowd in a great stadium.”
Sara Bejlek beat eighth seed Sorana Cirstea 7-6 (3), 6-4 and plays Marie Bouzkova, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over Anastasia Zakharova, in an all-Czech quarterfinal.
What’s next. Tokyo and Guangzhou next week no longer affect the singles field. The Ningbo Open guide has the draw format and past champions. For the week in the desert, see the ATP Finals and WTA Finals guide.
