Eighth seed Daria Kasatkina claimed her first win at this year's WTA Finals after fighting back for a comprehensive straight-sets victory over Coco Gauff in Fort Worth on Thursday.

Kasatkina trailed 4-1 in the first set but rallied to win the opening frame in a tiebreak, before dominating the second set to win 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 in one hour and 40 minutes.

The victory is Kasatkina's 41st of the year and 25th on the hard-court surface this season. Kasatkina is 29-0 this season when she wins the first set.

Gauff has now suffered two singles losses and two doubles defeats in Fort Worth this week, producing an erratic performance, where she committed 34 unforced errors compared to the Russian's 10.

Kasatkina had to earn the victory, with the first set lasting 66 minutes, as the eighth seed rallied from 3-0 down in the tiebreak to take the frame with her third set point.

The second set was more dominant, with Kasatkina claiming it in 35 minutes, although it included five straight broken games. Kasatkina converted her first match point from another Gauff error.

BREAK POINTS WON
Kasatkina - 6/10
Gauff - 5/8

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Kasatkina - 2/2
Gauff - 1/2

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Kasatkina - 10/10
Gauff - 25/34

Iga Swiatek continued her hoodoo over Daria Kasatkina as she breezed through their opening match at the WTA Finals.

Swiatek needed just an hour and 23 minutes to see off Kasatkina 6-2 6-3 in Fort Worth, Texas.

The world number one was in command throughout, her movement and intensity too much for Kasatkina in the Tracey Austin Group encounter.

Swiatek saved all three of the break points she faced and converted four of the seven chances she created for herself.

She sent down 23 winners, her highest tally in a single WTA Finals match, to complete her fifth win over Kasatkina this season.

The Pole is the first player to win five or more matches against the same opponent in a single season since Petra Kvitova against Lucie Safarova in 2014.

With her 46th such win of the year (excluding Billie Jean King Cup matches), she is the first player to win 46-plus WTA main draw matches in straight sets in a season since Serena Williams (66) and Agnieszka Radwanska (46) in 2013.

BREAK POINTS WON

Swiatek - 3/7

Kasatkina - 0/3

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS

Swiatek - 23/18

Kasatkina - 4/9

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS

Swiatek - 1/3

Kasatkina - 1/1

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.

The top seed in action on Tuesday at the Guadalajara Open made it through her opening match unscathed as Maria Sakkari defeated Marta Kostyuk 6-4 6-4.

Sakkari is one of the players needing a strong result in the tournament to break into the top-eight of the world rankings to qualify for the upcoming WTA Finals, entering the week at 10th, but only needing to make up one spot, with number eight Simona Halep out due to injury.

With her victory over Kostyuk, Sakkari avoided notching four consecutive losses for the first time this season, and will likely only need one more win to move into WTA Finals contention.

Her next opponent appears to be world number 16 Danielle Collins, who had no issue dispatching American compatriot Caroline Dolehide 6-4 6-1 to book her second-round fixture against Magdalena Frech after the Polish qualifier beat Yulia Putintseva 6-3 6-4.

World number seven Daria Kasatkina also should be locked into the WTA Finals after cruising past China's Lin Zhu 6-1 6-2, while 18th-ranked Beatriz Haddad Maia's season is over after a disappointing 7-5 6-2 upset loss to Katerina Siniakova.

Petra Kvitova needed to reach the final to have a chance of qualifying, but after a strong first set she fell 3-6 6-2 6-0 against Canada's Bianca Andreescu. In a good day for the Canadians, Eugenie Bouchard also beat Kayla Day 7-5 6-3 as the former world number five fights her way back up the rankings after a long injury layoff.

Italy's Elisabetta Cocciaretto defeated Russia's Anastasia Potapova 6-2 6-1, while Latvia's top talent Jelena Ostapenko cruised past America's Lauren Davis 6-1 6-3.

Madison Keys was too strong for Magda Linette in a 6-3 6-3 triumph, and in an all-Czech matchup, Marie Bouzkova downed Tereza Martincova 6-2 7-5.

Croatia's Donna Vekic eliminated Brazil's Laura Pigossi 6-4 6-1, and Italy's Martina Trevisan showed why she is top-30 in the world with a convincing 6-4 6-3 straight sets win against Japan's Nao Hibino.

In the last match of the night, world number 10 Caroline Garcia survived an early scared to come from behind and defeat Rebecca Marino 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-5).

Donna Vekic produced a spectacular second set to shock world number seven Maria Sakkari 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 in the first round of the San Diego Open on Tuesday.

After a hard-fought first set where both women were able to convert one of their four break point opportunities, Vekic took control in the tie-breaker and carried that momentum in the second set.

Vekic won 65 per cent of her service points in the second set, while Sakkari could only muster a 47-per-cent success rate, despite having a significant edge in first-serve accuracy (79 per cent to Vekic's 53 per cent).

The Croatian only had two break point opportunities, and that is all she needed, taking both to run away with one of the biggest wins of her career.

Vekic will play Karolina Pliskova in the second round after the Czech defeated America's Caroline Dolehide 6-3 6-4.

Pliskova, ranked 22nd in the world, had no issue with the world number 181 in one of Tuesday's biggest mismatches, nabbing a break-to-love in the first set before taking a quick double-break to begin the second.

World number 11 Daria Kasatkina was too strong for Leylah Fernandez, cruising to a 6-2 6-2 victory in exactly one hour.

Sloane Stephens earned a shot against world number five Aryna Sabalenka in the second round after getting the better of Switzerland's Jil Teichmann 6-1 7-6 (7-2).

World number 13 Garbine Muguruza was clearly not at 100 per cent, retiring hurt after losing the first five games of her match against China's Qinweng Zheng, and Coco Gauff will resume her contest against Robin Montgomery leading 6-3 3-2 after rain halted the action for the day.

Anett Kontaveit and Maria Sakkari were both knocked out of the Ostrava Open on Thursday as several top seeds tumbled.

Third seed Kontaveit, who won this competition last year, retired when a set down to Tereza Martincova, while world number seven Maria Sakkari was defeated 5-7 7-5 7-5 by 21-year-old American Alycia Parks in a big upset.

Parks lost the opener but found two crucial breaks of serve when 6-5 up in both the second and third sets to eliminate the fourth seed.

The withdrawal of Belinda Bencica – seeded sixth – with a foot injury put Barbora Krejcikova into the quarter-finals, while Ekaterina Alexandrova will also be in the last eight after overcoming fifth seed Daria Kasatkina 6-1 7-6 (7-1).

The tournament favourites were in much better form at the Jasmin Open in Tunisia, as the top two seeds sealed their places in the quarter-finals with straight-sets wins.

Favourite Ons Jabeur cruised to a 6-1 6-3 victory over Evgeniya Rodina, converting four of her seven break points to safely advance to the next round of her home tournament.

And number two seed Veronika Kudermetova eased past Magdalena Frech 6-3 6-4 to set up a quarter-final meeting with Diane Parry.

Daria Kasatkina dug deep to fend off Daria Saville in the Granby Championships final and land the sixth WTA singles title of her career.

World number 10 Kasatkina took a 6-4 6-4 victory in one hour and 53 minutes of hard battle with her great friend, Saville showing resilience despite struggling with an ankle problem.

The outcome made Kasatkina the second Russian winner of the day on the WTA Tour after Liudmila Samsonova took the Tennis In The Land title in Cleveland, Ohio.

Kasatkina, who also won the Silicon Valley Classic in early August, will turn her focus away from a successful week in Canada and towards the US Open, which gets under way in New York on Monday.

The 25-year-old will be targeting a deep run at Flushing Meadows after achieving her best grand slam result in June when she reached the French Open semi-finals, before being prevented from playing Wimbledon due to a blanket ban on players from Russia and Belarus imposed by the All England Club.

In the second set of a gruelling and gripping tussle, Saville looked nailed on to come from 4-1 down to level at 4-4 when she led 40-0 in the eighth game, only for her game to briefly disintegrate, allowing Kasatkina to move 5-3 ahead.

Still, it was an unsteady Kasatkina at the other end of the court, and the Barcelona-based player was broken by Saville when serving for the match.

There was nothing secure about Saville on serve either, and Kasatkina had two match points in the next game at 15-40. She was unable to take either, or the third and fourth that arrived soon after. On her fifth opportunity, Kasatkina was relieved to see Saville hit wide.

Kasatkina begins her US Open campaign against British qualifier Harriet Dart on Monday, while Saville starts on the same day against Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse.

Daria Kasatkina has a chance to win her second tournament this month after blowing past Diane Parry 6-2 6-0 in the semi-final of the Granby Championships.

Kasatkina, who beat Shelby Rogers in the final of the Silicon Valley Classic a couple of weeks ago, dominated Parry from the jump with her powerful serve.

Parry did not stand a chance when Kasatkina would land her first serves fair, with the Russian converting 88 per cent (15-of-17) of those opportunities in the opening frame, before winning 92 per cent (12-of-13) of her total service points in the second set.

Kasatkina, who has now collected three straight-sets wins in a row, will face Australia's Daria Saville in the final after her semi-final opponent, Marta Kostyuk, withdrew due to injury.

Meanwhile, at Tennis in the Land, Liudmila Samsonova continued her red-hot form with a 6-1 6-2 semi-final victory over Bernarda Pera to book her place in the final.

Samsonova, who is yet to drop a set at the tournament, dominated both with her serve and in her return game, winning 89 per cent (32-of-36) of her service points and 56 per cent (24-of-43) of her return points. She created nine break point opportunities, while allowing zero.

She will play Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the final after the Belarusian outlasted France's Alize Cornet 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-3 in a match that lasted two hours and 53 minutes.

Sasnovich shot herself in the foot early with four double faults in the opening set, but cleaned it up as the match wore on, committing just two the rest of the way.

World number 10 Daria Kasatkina showed why she is the highest ranked player at the Granby Championships, defeating fifth seed Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 6-3 6-2 in convincing fashion.

Kasatkina, who is enjoying a career-high ranking, got the job done in straight sets despite struggling with her serve, committing all nine of the match's double faults.

While she was only able to win a below-par 58 per cent of her service points, she also won 58 per cent of her return points, and it was that ability to deal with the Spaniard's serve that proved to be the difference.

Kasatkina will play France's Diane Parry in the semi-final after she got the better of Germany's Tatjana Maria 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-4) in a near three-hour tussle.

Parry only had one ace compared to Maria's 10, but she excelled in the longer rallies, with her return success rate jumping up from 16 per cent to 47 per cent when she was able to see a second serve.

Australia's Daria Saville will contest the other semi-final after her 6-3 6-0 domination of China's Xiyu Wang, and she will play Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk after she defeated Canada's Rebecca Marino 6-2 4-6 6-2.

Meanwhile, Liudmila Samsonova continued her terrific run at Tennis in the Land as she beat Magda Linette 6-4 6-3.

Samsonova is yet to lose a set at the tournament, but will face her toughest test next when she meets Bernarda Pera in the semi-final.

Pera, who previously eliminated top seed Barbora Krejcikova in straight sets, came out on top against American compatriot Sofia Kenin 6-2 5-7 6-3, despite creating one fewer break point opportunity.

Alize Cornet is also yet to lose a set on her run to the semi-final, proving too strong for Shuai Zhang 6-4 6-2.

Cornet will play Aliaksandra Sasnovich for a place in the final after the Belarusian pulled away in the second set of her 6-4 6-1 win against American Madison Brengle.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich was the top seed to advance in Tuesday's action at Tennis in the Land, treating the Cleveland crowd to a two-and-half-hour battle before prevailing 4-6 6-3 6-3 against Sara Sorribes Tormo.

In a close contest, Belarus' Sasnovich took advantage in the big moments, winning five of her 10 break point opportunities, while Sorribes Tormo could only convert two-of-nine.

While seventh seed Sasnovich was the highest-seeded winner on the day, fifth seed Irina-Camelia Begu fell victim to a shock 6-3 6-2 upset from world number 415 Sofia Kenin.

Kenin, a wildcard, now advances to the quarter-finals after winning two matches in a row for the first time since January, and prior to this week she had lost her previous nine matches.

Alize Cornet will likely meet second seed Martina Trevisan in the quarter-final after a strong 6-3 7-6 (7-1) triumph against Denmark's rising 19-year-old talent Clara Tauson.

Liudmila Samsonova needed only 59 minutes to breeze past Iryna Shymanovich 6-1 6-0, and it was similarly smooth sailing for Magda Linette as she defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-2.

Meanwhile, at the Granby Championships in Canada, only one match was able to finish before the rain halted the rest of the day's play.

Spain's Nuria Parrizas-Diaz was too much for England's Harriet Dart, winning 6-2 6-4, while top seed Daria Kasatkina will just need to add the finishing touches when she resumes her match against Magdalena Frech, leading 6-3 5-0.

Coco Gauff shined on the opening day of the Canadian Open on Tuesday, defeating American compatriot Madison Brengle 6-1 6-3 to move to a record of 14-4 from her past 18 matches.

Gauff, who has not lost to anyone ranked lower than world number 22 Amanda Anisimova since the Australian Open, continued that impressive record by cruising past world number 62 Brengle, winning 58 per cent (34-of-59) of her return points in a dominant showing.

Anisimova, who eliminated Gauff from Wimbledon, also made it through her first match unscathed as she defeated hometown Canadian Carol Zhao 6-1 6-3.

China's Qinweng Zheng put another dagger into the Canadians with her 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 win over Rebecca Marino, but Bianca Andreescu gave the fans something to cheer for as she upset world number nine and winner of this past week's Silicon Valley Classic Daria Kasatkina 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.

Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo prevailed against American Claire Liu 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 7-6 (7-5) in a three-and-a-half-hour battle of attrition, while Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic upset world number 16 Veronika Kudermetova 6-4 2-6 7-6 (7-4) in two-and-a-half hours.

It was a disappointing showing from world number 10 Emma Raducanu as she went down 7-6 (7-0) 6-2 to the reigning champion of this event, Italy's Camila Giorgi.

Naomi Osaka also will need an early flight home after being forced to retire against Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, pulling the plug due to a persistent back injury while trailing 7-6 (7-4) 3-0.

In the late session, Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic successfully navigated the challenge of Tereza Martincova 6-4 6-2 to book a second round fixture against Serena Williams, and world number four Maria Sakkari survived a scare to finish strong and defeat Sloane Stephens 6-2 4-6 6-2.

Daria Kasatkina continued her strong season on Sunday by defeating American Shelby Rogers 6-7 (2-7) 6-1 6-2 in the final of the Silicon Valley Classic.

Russia's Kasatkina made her deepest grand slam run earlier this year by reaching the semi-final of the French Open, where she lost to world number one Iga Swiatek, and with this singles title – the fifth of her WTA career – she has claimed a career-best ranking of ninth in the world.

Against Rogers, the story was how the effectiveness of Kasatkina's serve continued to improve the further the match went on.

In the hard-fought opening set, Kasatkina won just 53 per cent (26-of-49) of her service points, allowing two breaks of serve and then flailing in the tie-break to drop five consecutive points.

Something changed from that point on, with Kasatkina improving to take 69 per cent (18-of-26) of her service points in the second frame, and that jumped again to 76 per cent (16-of-21) in the decider as she either figured something out, or Rogers ran out of steam.

Kasatkina did not allow a single break point opportunity after the first set, while converting four of her six chances to take a double-break in both the second and third.

Rogers had not lost a single set in her four matches to make it to the final, putting the exclamation point on a terrific run from Kasatkina that included wins over world number 27 Elena Rybakina, world number six Aryna Sabalenka and world number three Paula Badosa.

Shelby Rogers continued her dream run at the Silicon Valley Classic with victory over ninth seed Veronika Kudermetova securing a spot in the final against last year's runner-up Daria Kasatkina who toppled Paula Badosa.

Unseeded 29-year-old American Rogers has knocked off top seed Maria Sakkari along with Amanda Anisimova and 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu on her way to the decider.

Rogers is also yet to drop a set, maintaining that run against the higher-ranked Kudermetova for a 6-3 6-4 victory in one hour and 20 minutes.

The triumph marks Rogers' biggest final in her career and her first on tour in six years.

Rogers, who trailed 2-0 in the second set, broke Kudermetova's serve with her second match point to clinch victory.

Second seed Badosa was bundled out by Kasatkina 6-2 6-4 in 46 minutes in the other semi-final on Saturday.

Badosa did not appear 100 per cent physically throughout the match and Kasatkina capitalised to secure back-to-back finals in San Jose.

The Spaniard had three break points in the decisive game before Kasatkina converted her first match point.

Kaia Kanepi and Liudmila Samsonova both powered their way into the Citi Open final with comfortable victories on Saturday.

Sixth seed Kanepi ruthlessly swept aside Australian Daria Saville 6-3 6-1 in one hour and 13 minutes, moving her closer to her fifth career title. The 37-year-old Estonian blasted 18 winners for the match.

World number 60 Samsonova proved too good for China's Wang Xiyu, winning 6-1 6-1 in one hour and seven minutes. Samsonova's big hitting was a key feature behind her win with four aces and 17 winners.

Daria Kasatkina revealed she is in a gay relationship as Russia's leading star on the WTA Tour attacked homophobic attitudes in her homeland, and called for the war in Ukraine to end.

In an emotional interview with documentary maker Vitya Kravchenko, Kasatkina, who lives in Barcelona, teared up at the prospect of potentially being unable to return to Russia after being so candid.

The recent French Open semi-finalist has won four WTA titles in her career, including trophy runs at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow and the St Petersburg Open.

She has spoken about matters of sexuality in the past, and when asked whether she has a girlfriend, Kasatkina said in the new documentary: "Yes."

On her social media accounts, Kasatkina confirmed she and Olympic figure skater Natalia Zabiiako, who she described as "my cutie pie", are a couple.

She knows LGBT matters are taboo in Russia, saying: "So many subjects are taboo in Russia, some of them more important than ours, it's no surprise.

"This notion of someone wanting to be gay or becoming one, so ridiculous I think. There's nothing easier in this world than being straight.

"Seriously, if there is a choice, nobody would choose being gay. Why make your life harder, especially in Russia? What's the point?"

Asked whether she would be able to hold hands with her girlfriend in Russia, Kasatkina said: "Never."

Assessing the process of coming out, the 25-year-old said: "It's up to you how to do it and how much to tell. Living in peace with yourself is the only thing that matters, and f*** everyone else."

Few Russian sports stars have spoken out against the invasion of Ukraine, but Kasatkina made it clear that she feels strongly the war must stop.

Asked what she wanted most of all, Kasatkina said: "For the war to end. There hasn't been a single day since February 24 that I haven't read some news myself. Or haven't thought of it. [I want] for the day to just pass by without it.

"What people go through there, people that have relatives in Ukraine, especially when you start talking about Russia, Belgorod, here we go again. I can't imagine what they're going through, it's a full-blown nightmare.

"If only we could do something to stop that, even tiny percentage to stop. Not to change people's minds or something, only stop. Without a thought, I'd do anything, but unfortunately that's impossible and I think you understand it. We can't affect it. We can't change events that unfold. You feel powerless."

When she was asked by Kravchenko whether she was afraid she might not be allowed back to Russia because of her criticism, Kasatkina said: "Yes, I have thought about it."

She broke down in tears at that point.

Kasatkina has found support for coming out, with former doubles star Pam Shriver among those thanking her. She was also praised by Russian women's national team footballer Nadya Karpova, who has spoken about her own lesbian life and has also been a critic of the war.

Karpova posted on Instagram: "You are beautiful! I'm proud."

Kasatkina thanked Karpova in the YouTube documentary, saying: "Not only did Nadya help herself by coming clean and getting this burden off her chest, but she helped others.

"I believe it's important the influential people from sports, or any other sphere really, speaks about it. It helps."