The defending champion and world No. 1 had won more titles (four), matches (54) and top-10 matches (10) than any other player this season and had never lost to Noskova. “My body is just not physically ready to compete,” said the Kazakh A statement released by the WTA on Saturday.
No one has defended the WTA Finals title since Serena Williams in 2014, and that won’t change this year. gaff, champion in 2024is the only former winner left in the group. 2018 champion Elina Svitolina is in the 2nd group.
Circulation, Sunday, November 8
Local time (PT), 21:00 CET for the first leg. Seeds in parentheses. Elena Rybakina is replaced by Marta Kostyuk.
Noskova – Kostyuk, Wimbledon rematch
The 24-year-old Kostiuk, ranked No. 10, had the best season of his career. He beat her First WTA 1000 title in Madriddefeating Mirra Andreeva in the final, and added a title in Rouen. She also reached her first two Grand Slam semifinals, at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Much of that came on clay, where he went 16-1 this year. His record on hard courts is 14-10.
Noskova leads their head-to-head 2-1 and has won both meetings this summer. He beat Kostyuk Wimbledon semi-finals on his way to the title. He beat her again Round of 16 of the US Open Championship.
Noskova, 21, is one of three debutants at the event, along with Andreeva and Karolina Muchova. He won back-to-back grass court titles in Berlin and M Wimbledondefeating Pegula and Muchova in the final. He broke into the top 10 in June and rose to a career-high No. 6 in August.
Only Rybakina has hit more aces this season, 438 to Noskova’s 347. The Czech has not played since losing in the last 16 to Ekaterina Alexandrova in Beijing in September.
“This is the most competitive tournament you can participate in during the year,” said Noskova media day. “Also, the situation where you can lose a game and win the whole thing is very, very new to me.”
Twelve players lost in round robin play to win the title. Gauff was the most recent, in 2024.
Gauff vs. Pegula for #4
Gauff and Pegula are separated in the race for the year-end No. 4 by three points, 5,763 for Gauff and 5,760 for Pegula. Each round win is worth 200 points.
They are tied at 5-5. They meet in the WTA finals for the fourth year in a row, with Pegula leading 2-1. Only Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova (2011-2015) and Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver (1983-1986) have faced each other four or more times in a row.
Gauff won both matches in 2026, in the Wimbledon quarterfinals and Cincinnati Finalshis only title of the season. She has won 27 matches at the WTA 1000 level this year, more than any other player, and is 10-0 against the Americans. At 22, she is the youngest player since Martina Hingis to win five consecutive WTA finals.
Pegula, 32, is the oldest player in the event since Venus Williams in 2017. Her 50 wins this season tied Andreeva behind only Rybakina, and she won titles in Charleston and Dubai. She has played one match since the US Open, losing to Jelena Ostapenko in her opening match in Wuhan.
“I feel like the level is so high right now and there’s so much depth,” Pegula said during media day.
His week began under scrutiny. The live practice session took his personal comments about Andreeva, who he called a “diva” who “needs to bow down” and The WTA has apologized and muted the sound on his practice fields.
The top two from each group advance to the semi-finals, where the winner of each group meets the runner-up of the other group. The undefeated champion will earn $3.37 million and 1,500 rating points.
