St Petersburg (USA), Oct 21 (IANS): The team of Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs has qualified for the 2022 WTA Finals, becoming the seventh doubles team to secure their place for the season-ending finale in Fort Worth, Texas, the WTA announced on Thursday.
The American-Dutch pairing will join reigning champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos, Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko, Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, and Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan at the WTA Finals, which is being held at the Dickies Arena from October 31 to November 7.
The 2022 WTA Finals will mark Schuurs' fourth consecutive appearance at the tour's crown jewel event. They secured qualification in 2018, 2019 and 2021, while Krawczyk enjoyed her first run at the tournament in 2021.
This season will be their debut as a team and Krawczyk is the third American to qualify this year, joining Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.
Krawczyk and Schuurs have reached two finals this year, at back-to-back events, winning the WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and finishing runners-up at the Mutua Madrid Open, a WTA 1000 tournament.
They went on to perform consistently throughout the remainder of the season, making the semifinal stage at further WTA 1000 events at Internazionali BNL d'Italia (Rome) and the Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati), WTA 500 tournaments at the Pan Pacific Open (Tokyo) and the San Diego Open, along with the WTA 250 Libema Open ('s-Hertogenbosch).
Krawczyk posted a new career-high ranking in doubles in 2022, reaching No.10 on July 11. Schuurs is a former Top 10 player herself, spending over 50 weeks there. She peaked at No.7 in late 2018.
The final qualification place in doubles will be determined at this week's Guadalajara Open Akron, with the teams of Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez, and Anna Danilina and Beatriz Haddad Maia 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.