Jessica Pegula qualifies for WTA Finals, Ons Jabeur, Karolina Muchova and Marketa Vondrousova in contention for remaining three spots

Jessica Pegula's run to the final of the Tokyo Pan Pacific Open sees her qualify for the WTA Finals.

The American beat Cristina Bucsa, Daria Kasatkina and Maria Sakkari to reach the final of the WTA 500 event. Here, she lost 7-5, 6-1 to Veronika Kudermetova but the performance in Tokyo was enough to take her through to the WTA Finals that will take place in Cancun.

Jessica Pegula is the fifth player to qualify for the season-ending championships in Mexico, with Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina having already booked their respective spots.

The 29-year-old is currently fifth in the race to the WTA Finals with 4700 points to her name, 776 behind fourth-placed Elena Rybakina. Coco Gauff is right above the Kazakh with 5620 points while Iga Swiatek is second with 6905.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka is comfortably ahead at first position, with 8210 points to her name.

There are three spots yet to be taken at the WTA Finals and currently the likes of Marketa Vondrousova, Ons Jabeur and Karolina Muchova are among the frontrunners.

Wimbledon champion Vondrousova is currently sixth with 3661 points while Karolina Muchova is seventh, followed by Ons Jabeur at eighth. The Czech's first-round exit at the ongoing China Open allowed Jabeur to overtake her at sixth position if she reached the third round of the tournament.

The Tunisian moved up to seventh after winning her opening match in Beijing and a run to the final of the WTA 1000 event would have seen her qualify for the year-end championships in Cancun. However, she lost 7-6(5), 6-1 to Marta Kostyuk.

Apart from the aforementioned three, Maria Sakkari is also in contention as she is in ninth position with 3130 points. The Greek produced some impressive performances recently, most notably winning the Guadalajara Open, and could be in contention to qualify for the WTA Finals if she has a good run in Beijing.

Madison Keys is tenth in the race to the year-end championships with 2737 points and qualification seems farfetched for her at the moment.

Jessica Pegula reached the third round of the China Open

Jessica Pegula in action at the Japan Open

Jessica Pegula started the China Open in the second round after receiving a bye because of her run in Tokyo. The American booked her place in the third round of the WTA 1000 event with a 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-1 win over Anna Blinkova. This was her 50th singles win of the 2023 season out of 63 matches.

Jessica Pegula will next face 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko for a place in the Round of 16 of the China Open. It will be the fifth meeting between the two, with the American leading 3-1 in the head-to-head.

Whoever out of Pegula or Ostapenko wins, will face either Liudmila Samsonova or Marta Kostyuk in the quarterfinals of the China Open.