Dinara, Serena, Caro, Sveta, Venus, Elena and Vika are already in. That means there's one spot left for the Year End Championships in Doha...
... and, with two weeks left, five players within striking distance.
(There are zero decent pictures of Marion out there. Kinda funny.)
Jelena, Vera, Aga, Flavia and Marion. Five players, 450 points, one spot. And they're all playing at least once in the next two weeks. And, obviously, not only is the one spot at #8 open, but both the alternate spots are up for grabs, too. Given that for the last two years, alternates have both played and won matches at YEC (including Aga and Marion), you can bet no one's taking those spots or potential points for granted either.
Jelena and Vera are numbers 8 and 9 in the Race right now, respectively, and are separated by a mere five points. They are both playing Moscow, and, of course, are respectively the defending champion (JJ) and and finalist (Bepa). It seems natural to assume that, between those two, whoever goes farthest in Moscow will end up with the final spot for Doha. That really takes the whole thing right down to the wire, since the Moscow final is a mere two days before start of play in Doha. Game. On.
However.
Aga, who vaulted herself back into YEC contention with her finals showing at Beijing this week, is currently #10 in the race (225 points behind JJ at #8, 200 points ahead of Flavia at #11) and is slated to play both Linz and Moscow. A good showing at both could put her right up there, especially if one or both of JJ/Vera crashes out early at Kremlin Cup. Plus, she should be super-motivated: she's on a hot streak, she's defending points from Doha last year, and a win at Linz would also qualify her for the Baby YEC in Bali.
Flavia, currently #11 in the Race, is 425 points out of 8th, which seems like a lot until you consider that she, like Aga, is playing both Linz and Moscow. Since Flavia's already qualified for the Baby YEC, but can't go because of her Fed Cup commitments, it might be that she shows up at both tournaments extra hungry to make it into Doha, either fully qualified or as an alternate.
Marion is #12 in the race, 450 points out of #8 and 225 points out of #10. She's playing Osaka this week and, as the #2 seed, has a decent shot at the title, particularly if Caroline Wozniacki's health is still iffy. On the one hand, since she's so far out of #8 and (unlike the two players directly in front of her) is only playing once, her odds for making the cut seem bad. On the other hand, if I had to pick the steadiest competitor out of all five of these women... it might just be Marion.
So, there you have it. On paper, it looks amazing. As for the reality... well, God knows the WTA has had a hard time living up to billing this year, but I still kind of can't wait.
