Iga Swiatek of Poland is in the way of Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka’s goal of finishing as the world’s top finisher at the end of the year. Sabalenka is ranked second with 8,716 points in the current WTA rankings, trailing only Swiatek, who leads with 10,885 points.

The true equation, though, is different from the standings as Swiatek will lose 1,000 ranking points as a result of her withdrawal from the China Open 2024, where she was expected to win.

However, Sabalenka, fresh off a victorious run at the US Open 2024, is still in the running as the top seed, defending 215 ranking points from her 2023 run to the Beijing quarterfinals. By winning the China Open this year, the 26-year-old will have 9,501 points overall, closing the point differential with Swiatek to less than 400.

Before the WTA 1000 competition, she already has travelled to Beijing. In a press conference on Tuesday, Sabalenka stated her goal to be the top-ranked WTA singles player by the end of 2024.

Sabalenka talked about it and said: “Well, yeah, of course, that’s one of my goals, to finish the season at world No. 1.”

She further talked about improving her game and said: “I’m not trying to focus on that. I’m trying to focus on my game.”

Remarkably, the Belarusian nearly achieved the world No. 1 ranking at the end of the previous season after ousting Swiatek in September. But Swiatek came back to take the top spot in November after winning the WTA Finals.

Aryna Sabalenka in 2024

Now ranked no.2, Aryna played her last match on the 7^th

of September when she beat world no.3 Jessica Pegula 7-5 7-5 in the final of the U.S. Open to win her 16^th career title.

During this season Sabalenka has achieved a compiled 46-11 win-loss record. Aryna has won 3 titles in 2024 at the Australian Open, Cincinnati and U.S. Open. Sabalenka reached the final in Brisbane, Madrid and Rome.

Aryna Sabalenka will come up against the world no.450 Petra Kvitova in the final on Saturday at 6:00 pm on CENTRE COURT. Their current head to head is 3-2 for Kvitova.

Sabalenka has won 3 titles in 2024 at the Australian Open, Cincinnati and U.S. Open. Sabalenka was the runner-up in Brisbane (Brisbane International), in Madrid (Mutua Madrid Open) and in Rome (Internazionali BNL d’Italia).

Aryna won 16 titles in her career: 12 on hard courts, 2 on clay courts and 2 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)