ISTANBUL, Turkey - Following Marion Bartoli's withdrawal from Moscow on Friday due to a viral illness, the race is over - Agnieszka Radwanska has become the eighth qualifier for the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, the WTA's eight-woman year-end finale to be held in Istanbul next week.
Radwanska, who was an alternate for the Championships in 2008 and 2009 but has never been one of the elite eight qualifiers, asserted herself as a frontrunner for the last spot with back-to-back Premier-level titles at Tokyo and Beijing. Bartoli and Andrea Petkovic both had a chance to overtake her but fell short of their scenarios and will now be the two alternates for this year's event.
"I am so happy to finally qualify for the Championships as one of the Top 8 singles players," Radwanska commented. "Just a few weeks ago I didn't think I had a chance of qualifying and am now so happy to end my season in Istanbul."
Both years as an alternate Radwanska did in fact get the chance to play, going 2-0 - she beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2008 and Victoria Azarenka in 2009.
The WTA's year-end finale will feature the Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams competing for the coveted title and a share of $5 million in prize money. The WTA and Turkish Tennis Federation's goal is to deliver the best finale in history to fans of women's tennis in Turkey and all over the world.
Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, Li Na, Vera Zvonareva and Samantha Stosur were the first seven singles qualifiers.
The four-team doubles line-up was finalized on the weekend and will feature Kveta Peschke & Katarina Srebotnik, Liezel Huber & Lisa Raymond, Gisela Dulko & Flavia Pennetta and Vania King & Yaroslava Shvedova.
