With Petra Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, Sara Errani and Li Na holding spots five through eight as the WTA Tour heads into the meat of the Asian swing this week in Tokyo, Sam Stosur, Marion Bartoli and the suddenly hot Caroline Wozniacki are still alive in the hunt.
But Stosur, Bartoli and Wozniacki have their work cut out for them. Each will have to do lots of winning over the next four weeks -- and lots of scoreboard watching too.
Besides the prestige of the event, which will be held on Oct. 23-28 at the Sinan Erdem in Istanbul, players stand to receive a guaranteed $110k with the chance to earn up to $1.75 million in Turkey.
Here’s a quick look a the standings as well as a peek at the schedules for the players who have a chance to qualify. Of note is the fact that Stosur, currently ranked 9th in the race, is scheduled to play four events in the next four weeks, while Li Na, currently ranked 8th, is not scheduled for anything beyond Beijing.
Key: Tok=Tokyo, Bej=Beijing, Linz=Linz, Lux=Luxembourg,
Mos=Moscow, Osa=Osaka