St. Petersburg (Florida), Oct 19 (IANS): The WTA on Wednesday announced the doubles team of Yang Zhaoxuan and Xu Yifan have qualified for the 2022 WTA Finals, becoming the sixth doubles team to secure their place for the season-ending finale in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Chinese pairing will join reigning champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, along with Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos, Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko, Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens, and Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula at the WTA Finals, which is being held at the Dickies Arena from October 31 to November 7.

Yang Zhaoxuan and Xu Yifan and will be making their debut as a team at the WTA Finals, however, Xu is no stranger to the season-ending finale. She appeared three times before with Gabriela Dabrowski in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Yang and Xu have won two titles this season, both coming on American soil, at the WTA 1000 Paribas Open in Indian Wells and WTA 500 Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose.

The team, who first started playing together at the beginning of the 2021 season, reached three additional semifinals all at WTA 500 level, at the Sydney Tennis Classic, Dubai Tennis Championships and the International Eastbourne. Yang also enjoyed posting a new career-high ranking in doubles in 2022, reaching No.14 on Aug. 8, while Xu is a former Top 10 player.

The final two qualification places in doubles will be secured this week at the Guadalajara Open Akron, with the teams of Demi Schuurs and Desirae Krawczyk, Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez, and Anna Danilina and Beatriz Haddad Maia all fighting to secure their spot.

The 2022 WTA Finals features the top 8 singles players and doubles teams on the Race to the WTA Finals, competing in a round-robin format with the singles champion lifting the WTA Finals Billie Jean King Trophy and the doubles champions earning the WTA Finals Martina Navratilova Trophy.