There will be one racing certainty when the WTA Finals gets under way: a new champion will be crowned.
Iga Swiatek heads the list of contenders to carry off the trophy in Fort Worth, Texas, having enjoyed a spectacular season.
Ascendant Americans Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff will be chasing a home victory, while Tunisia's Ons Jabeur has reached finals at Wimbledon and the US Open so loves the big occasion.
Ahead of the tournament getting under way on Monday, Stats Perform has taken a look at the eight-player field.
Swiatek still the player to beat
With no past winner in the line-up, there is every reason to look to the world number one, Swiatek, as favourite.
The 21-year-old Polish player has eight titles this year, lifting trophies at Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Rome, the French Open, the US Open and San Diego.
Indeed, she is the only grand slam singles winner in the draw, with Ash Barty having retired and Elena Rybakina absent after no ranking or race points were awarded at Wimbledon, where she was a surprise champion.
Rybakina's absence calls into question the meritocracy of this year's tournament, which is intended to showcase the top performers on tour, yet there can be no doubt the season's premier performer is in the draw.
French Open and US Open winner Swiatek's remarkable run of 10 straight-sets victories in finals (dating back to the 2020 French Open) was finally ended by Barbora Krejcikova, who sprang a shock by winning in Ostrava in early October.
But by getting back to winning ways a week later in San Diego, scrapping for a three-set victory over Donna Vekic in the title match, Swiatek produced a typically impressive response, beating Qinwen Zheng, Gauff and Pegula on her way through the draw to improve to 64-8 in her win-loss record for the year.
Here is a measure of her dominance this season: Swiatek headed the 'Race to the WTA Finals' rankings with 10,335 points, with the players in second (Jabeur) to eighth place (Daria Kasatkina) having tallies ranging between 4,555 and 2,935 points.
Is Pegula the chief rival to Swiatek?
She might not have been the player that would have sprung to mind even a month ago, but Pegula's victory at the Guadalajara Open this month was an eye-opener.
Beginning by saving match points in a thrilling three-setter against Rybakina, Pegula took down grand slam winners Bianca Andreescu, Sloane Stephens and Victoria Azarenka before swatting aside Maria Sakkari in the final.
Pegula has reached quarter-finals at the Australian, French and US Opens in 2022, and she has a tour-high 39 wins in WTA 1000 events since the beginning of last year.
She is up to third in the WTA rankings, one ahead of Coco Gauff, with the United States now having two women in the top five for the first time since October 2010, when Serena Williams was number two and sister Venus sat fourth.
As Pegula said after the Guadalajara final: "I'm definitely a very ambitious person. A little bit of a perfectionist, as well. I don't think you could win if you weren't ambitious, especially at this level.
"I feel like it's going to give me more motivation going forward knowing I can win these big titles. I think it will give me a lot of confidence ending the year, going into next year."
These are spirited words. She heads into the tournament with a 0-4 record against Swiatek in 2022, however.
Who's in, who's out, what's it all about?
As well as Swiatek and Pegula, the field for the eight-day tournament includes Caroline Garcia, Aryna Sabalenka and Sakkari, who have all featured at the WTA Finals in the past.
Four players make their debuts, including Pegula, who is joined as a newcomer by Jabeur, Gauff and Daria Kasatkina.
Gauff, 18, has become the 14th player aged under 19 to reach the WTA top five since the rankings were introduced in 1975.
She would not be the youngest WTA Finals champion, were she to lift the title, as Monica Seles has a tight grip on that record, having triumphed at the age of 16 years and 11 months at the 1990 edition.
Last year's champion Garbine Muguruza is absent. The Spaniard was expected by many to push on and enjoy a stellar 2022 season, but it did not play out that way, with the former French Open and Wimbledon winner sliding to 57th in the world rankings after a dismal campaign.
It goes to show that whoever prevails in Fort Worth, we should be cautious about treating the outcome as an indication of what to expect in the new year.
Most difficult year of my life – Alexander Zverev makes French Open semis again
Alexander Zverev battled his way back into the French Open semi-finals a year after suffering a season-ending ankle injury.
The German left Philippe Chatrier in a wheelchair 12 months ago after being forced to retire during a compelling last-four clash with Rafael Nadal.
Zverev had struggled since returning to the tour in January but has buried his demons on the Parisian clay and fought for three hours and 22 minutes to make it past surprise package Tomas Etcheverry 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4.
“That was the most difficult year of my life,” he said.
“I love tennis with all my heart. I’m so happy to be back at this stage, I’m so happy to be able to play for a Roland Garros final again. I can’t be happier.”
Argentinian Etcheverry, 23, did himself huge credit in the biggest match of his career, wowing the Philippe Chatrier crowd with thumping winners and fighting to the end.
But it was Zverev who was just the stronger in the big moments, saving six of the nine break points he faced to make it to the last four here for the third year in a row.
Zverev said of his opponent: “He’s playing incredible tennis, he reminds me a lot of (Juan Martin) Del Potro, the way he hits his forehand especially. If he continues playing like this he’s going in the quarter-finals here a lot more often for sure and I think he can be top 10.
“I just had to remember that I have a pair of balls that I can use. I hope, I think I deserved to win. I’m just happy to be through.”
Andy Murray progresses at Surbiton with straight-sets win over Bu Yunchaokete
A visibly frustrated Andy Murray eventually saw off qualifier Bu Yunchaokete to reach the third round of the Surbiton Trophy as he continues his preparations ahead of Wimbledon.
The 36-year old skipped the French Open to focus on his grass-court season and give himself the best preparation for Wimbledon next month.
Murray, a two-time Wimbledon champion, is ranked 43rd and needs to climb around 10 positions to be seeded in SW19.
He increased those chances with a hard-fought 7-6 (1) 6-4 win over Yunchaokete, who is 130 places below Murray in the rankings.
Internet issues on the umpire’s scoring system led to a slight delay in starting the match and it took Murray a while to get going once things got under way.
As with his first round win over Chung Hyeon on Monday, Murray needed little time to hit his stride as he looked to back up his claims that he remains among the top 10 players on his favourite surface.
Chinese qualifier Yunchaokete had beaten Briton Harry Wendelken in the opening round but the step up in class left him at the mercy of Murray.
Two aces saw Murray take the third game and he broke serve in the sixth only to have Yunchaokete break back immediately, with the Briton throwing his racket to the ground in frustration.
Yunchaokete was starting to grow in confidence as he held to love to leave Murray grumbling away at the other end.
Two set points for Murray were not taken and he greeted another error with a cry of “I don’t know what is going on with my game” as the first set headed into a tie-break.
The self-administered pep-talk seemed to work as Murray dominated, this time letting out a roar of joy as he took the first set.
The outbursts of anger continued in the second set with both players still unable to put clear distance between the scores.
Murray would eventually maintain a high enough level to see off the spirited Yuchanokete and advance into the next stage as he aims to go one better than his semi-final place at Surbiton 12 months ago.
It sucks – Coco Gauff left dispirited by another defeat to Iga Swiatek
A dispirited Coco Gauff was forced to digest a seventh straight loss to Iga Swiatek as the defending champion progressed to another French Open semi-final.
The pair had met in the final 12 months ago, with Gauff winning just four games, and the American had not won a set in their six previous clashes.
The statistic remains and, although Gauff had some success with a new game plan and pushed the world number one in a 6-4 6-2 defeat, that was of little consolation.
“Obviously you lose to someone seven times, you feel crappy,” said Gauff, who struggled to hold back tears.
“It’s not fun at all but also, every time I play her, I’m not thinking about the previous record. If I go in believing that I lost the match before it already happens then I’m never going to win.
“But obviously when it’s over, yeah, it does suck.”
Gauff came out with different tactics to last year’s final, testing Swiatek with high, slower balls to her backhand and trying not to allow the top seed to get into a rhythm.
Gauff’s big opportunity came in the third game of the second set when she created three break points – the third after drilling a point-blank backhand at Swiatek at the net, sending the Pole tumbling to the clay as she tried to avoid it.
Gauff swiftly apologised, but it was Swiatek who had the last laugh as the American fired shots long on each of her opportunities.
“I think a lot of the points I lost were off really small details,” said the teenager. “The game in the third set I had an opportunity to go up 40-0 and then also I was up 40-15 on her serve and missed two returns. That’s on my end.”
Gauff was unrepentant about hitting Swiatek, saying: “I didn’t try to hit her. I was just trying to hit the ball hard in the middle of the court, and it happened to hit her.
“I apologised after but I think she knows that’s part of the game. If you hit a bad ball and you decide to run to the net, there’s always a risk that you get hit.”
The Pole did not react at the time, and said later: “I don’t really know if that was her only option or not but I know Coco is a nice person and she wouldn’t mean it. Nothing personal. It happens.”
Swiatek extended her record at Roland Garros to 26-2 as she chases a third title in four years and she has only lost 15 games in five matches so far.
While she is a clear favourite to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen again, Swiatek does not want to take an all-or-nothing approach.
“It’s never like that, honestly, especially at a grand slam,” she said. “I’m pretty happy to be in the semi-final again at Roland Garros. It’s a great achievement no matter how the tournament is going to finish.
“Especially coming into the tournament as a defending champion, it puts a lot of pressure on you. I’m really happy I can show consistency and just play good here every year.”
In the last four, Swiatek will face a player who has taken a much more scenic route in 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, who defeated Ons Jabeur to become the first Brazilian woman to reach the French Open semi-finals in the open era.
After battling for nearly four hours to beat Sara Sorribes Tormo in the fourth round, she found herself with work to do after losing the opening set to seventh seed Jabeur but fought back impressively to win 3-6 7-6 (5) 6-1.
Haddad Maia has spent nearly 13 hours on court in reaching the last four, more than twice as long as Swiatek, who she beat in their only previous meeting in Toronto last summer.
The 27-year-old is a late bloomer having struggled with injuries and then served a 10-month doping ban – she successfully argued she had inadvertently taken a banned substance in a contaminated supplement – and this is her first time beyond the second round of a slam.
Haddad Maia said: “I think a tennis match is like a marathon. It’s not a 100 metres race. I think one of my qualities is that I wait and I’m very patient and I never give up.”
It was a disappointing loss for seventh seed Jabeur, who seemed in control of the match until the second-set tie-break.
The Tunisian managed to be happy for her opponent, though, saying: “She’s a beast and I wish her all the best. I feel like my story and her story are a little bit similar. I’m very happy for her and for Brazil, and hopefully she can do much more for her country.”
Jabeur is now targeting a first slam title at Wimbledon having lost in the final last summer.
“I’m hoping to go and get the title really in Wimbledon,” she said. “I’m dreaming about it. It’s something that I always wanted.”
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