The 2008 WTA Tour Championships (also known as the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 38th edition of the year-end singles championships, the 33rd edition of the year-end doubles championships, and is part of the 2008 WTA Tour. It took place at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar, from 4 November through 9 November 2008.

Finals

Singles

Venus Williams defeated Vera Zvonareva, 6–7(5–7), 6–0, 6–2. It was Venus Williams' 3rd title of the year, and her 39th overall. It was her 1st career year-end championships title.

Doubles

Cara Black / Liezel Huber defeated Květa Peschke / Rennae Stubbs, 6–1, 7–5.

Players The top eight players and the top four doubles teams in the 2008 WTA Tour will qualify for the Championships. Two more players will also come to Doha as reserves. Should any player withdraw, they will enter the tournament. #PlayersPointsTournamentsDate qualified1Jelena Janković (SRB)4,78630 July2Dinara Safina (RUS)3,8234 September3Serena Williams (USA)3,681134 September4Elena Dementieva (RUS)3,40018 September5Ana Ivanovic (SRB)3,3531830 July6Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)2,62717 October7Vera Zvonareva (RUS)2,62625 October8Venus Williams (USA)2,52425 October

Qualified singles players On 30 July, Jelena Janković and Ana Ivanovic became the first two players to qualify for the year-end championships.

Following a surging 2007, Janković started the year at the Hopman Cup where she partnered with Novak Djokovic to reach the final, losing out to United States' Serena Williams and Mardy Fish. She reached the semifinals of the Australian Open a few weeks after falling to Maria Sharapova, the eventual champion where she beat Serena Williams en route in the quarterfinals. In February and March, she reached a lone final at the Sony Ericsson Open losing to Serena Williams 1–6, 7–5, 3–6. She further reached two semifinals and two quarterfinals. In the clay season, Janković won the Italian Open for the second straight year against surprise finalist Alizé Cornet who was an 18-year-old qualifier. At the French Open, she reached her third straight major semifinal but fell in three grueling sets to once again the eventual champion in Ana Ivanovic, a match that decided the new World No. 1.

Janković then headed straight to Wimbledon where she lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn in the fourth round. Janković eventually became the 18th female No. 1, replacing compatriot Ivanovic on August 11. At the Beijing Olympics, she lost to eventual silver medalist Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals. At the US Open, Janković beat Elena Dementieva in the final four to reach her first Grand Slam final but lost to Serena Williams. In the fall season, she won three consecutive tournaments at the China Open, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and the Kremlin Cup justifying her return to the top spot.

Ana Ivanovic began the 2008 season by reaching the finals of the Australian Open where she lost to Maria Sharapova in straight sets. She then managed to win her sixth title and third Tier I title in Indian Wells, beating Jelena Janković and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals and finals respectively. Following a mediocre pre-French Open season where she failed to defend her title in Berlin, she entered Roland Garros as the second seed and favourite. She lived up to that expectation by winning her first Grand Slam (and her only to date) and becoming the first Serbian to reach the No. 1 spot, virtue of beating compatriot Janković in the semifinals. She defeated first-time Grand Slam finalist Dinara Safina 6–4, 6–3. In her first tournament as the new world No. 1 at Wimbledon, she was upset in the third round by Chinese wildcard Zheng Jie. Following a disappointing Wimbledon campaign, she suffered an injury-marred US Open Series as she withdrew from Los Angeles and the Olympics, which Ivanovic described as "one of the worst moments in my career". She played only one tournament which was at the Rogers Cup and was eliminated in the third round. As the top seed for the US Open, she suffered for the second straight major a loss to a player ranked outside the top 100 in French qualifier Julie Coin. She returned to form in October by winning the indoor tournament in Linz as well as reach the semifinals at the Kremlin Cup.

On 4 September, Serena Williams and Dinara Safina were announced as the third and fourth qualifiers for the Championships.

Serena Williams started the year at the Hopman Cup where she teamed up with Mardy Fish to win it for the US. At the Australian Open, she made the quarterfinals losing to Jelena Janković.

On 18 September, Elena Dementieva became the fifth qualifier for the Championships.

On 17 October, by reaching the quarterfinals at the Kremlin Cup, Svetlana Kuznetsova was confirmed as the sixth qualifier.

On 25 October, the final two spots were taken by Vera Zvonareva and Venus Williams.

Jelena Janković (4786) Dinara Safina (3823) Serena Williams (3681) Elena Dementieva (3400) Ana Ivanovic (3353) Vera Zvonareva (2626) Svetlana Kuznetsova (2627) Venus Williams (2524)

Singles alternates Agnieszka Radwańska (2256) Nadia Petrova (1914)

Withdrawn players Maria Sharapova (2515) (Sharapova announced a hiatus from tennis from the Rogers Cup until 2009, which prevented her from continuing to collect points and qualify)

Qualified doubles teams

In doubles, team Cara Black and Liezel Huber qualified with convincing lead with more than 6,000 points, while other three teams all failed to collect even a half of that number of points, with all of them being around 2,000.

Cara Black / Liezel Huber (6158) Anabel Medina Garrigues / Virginia Ruano Pascual (2809) Květa Peschke / Rennae Stubbs (2614) Ai Sugiyama / Katarina Srebotnik (2542)

Singles Championship Race

Singles Players in gold qualified for Doha. Players in brown withdrawn. The low-ranked players in blue after them would be played as alternates in Doha. Rank Player Mandatory Events Best Other Tournaments Total points Tourn AUS FRA WIM USO MIA1234567891011121 Jelena JankovićSF450SF450R16140F700F350W430W430W300W275SF210SF140SF125QF115QF110QF110QF110QF1104,786211 Jelena JankovićQF90QF70QF70R1614,786212 Dinara SafinaR1282F700R3290SF450QF125W430W430W430W275S245SF195F100QF75R1665R1660R3240R16403,823202 Dinara SafinaQF35R1635R3213,823203 Serena WilliamsQF250R3290F700W1000W500W430W275SF125QF110QF110QF90R1613,681124 Elena DementievaR16140QF250SF450SF450QF125G353W300F300SF195SF195W165SF125QF110F100QF75SF65R3213,400184 Elena DementievaR3213,400185 Ana IvanovicF700W1000R3290R6460R3245W465W275SF195SF125SF125QF75QF70R1665R1660R321R161R1613,353176 Vera ZvonarevaR1282R16140R6460R6460SF225F325F300F300F190B175W140SF125W115QF115F80QF75QF702,626246 Vera ZvonarevaR1660R1635QF30R161R161R321R1612,626247 Svetlana KuznetsovaR3290SF450R16140R3290SF225F325F300F215F190F190QF110QF110R1665R1660R1660R161R6412,623187 Svetlana KuznetsovaR3212,623188 Venus WilliamsQF250R3290W1000QF250QF125W275SF140SF125QF110QF90R1665R321R3212,522139 Maria SharapovaW1000R16140R6460A0A0W465W275SF210SF195QF110R16602,515910QF250R16140QF250R16140R641W275SF210W140SF125W115QF115QF110R1660R1660R1660SF50R16402,2562310R1635R1635R3228R3215R321R3212,2562311 Nadia PetrovaR16140R3290QF250R3290R641F215SF195F190W140W140QF110SF75QF70QF70R1660R3235QF351,9142511 Nadia PetrovaR321R321R321R641R321R641R321R3211,91425

References

External links

WTA tournament draws