Doha: Just 24 Days Away...

There is less than a month to go until the Sony Ericsson Championships - Doha 2008, and there's still quite a lot of mystery as to who will make up the final six spots in the eight-woman, four-team field at the $4.45-million season-ending tournament.
 
The singles field began taking shape during the summer hardcourt season. Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic were the first two to qualify, doing so the week of Montréal at the end of July; Dinara Safina and Serena Williams followed during the second week of the US Open at the beginning of September; and Elena Dementieva was the fifth to join the eight-woman field after winning her opening match in Tokyo in mid-September.
 
Four players have separated themselves from the rest as frontrunners for the last three spots. Svetlana Kuznetsova is leading the pack at 2513 points, followed by Venus Williams (2246), Vera Zvonareva (2135) and Agnieszka Radwanska (2096). Over 500 points separates Radwanska from the next players on the list, Patty Schnyder (1594), Nadia Petrova (1593) and Caroline Wozniacki (1580).
 
Thus far, only Cara Black and Liezel Huber have qualified for the doubles event, doing so just before the US Open in mid-August. Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual are on the verge of securing the second berth, with a whole host of teams in the hunt for the third and fourth berths (namely Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs, the Bondarenko sisters, Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung, Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama, Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur, and Yan Zi and Zheng Jie; all are within 300 points of each other).
 
Watch this space in the coming days, as there are rumblings of more qualification announcements...
 
Race To The Sony Ericsson Championships

Singles Standings
  1. Jelena Jankovic (4355 - qualified)
  2. Serena Williams (3681 - qualified)
  3. Dinara Safina (3628 - qualified)
  4. Elena Dementieva (3040 - qualified)
  5. Ana Ivanovic (2952 - qualified)
 6. Maria Sharapova (2515 - withdrew)
  7. Svetlana Kuznetsova (2513)
  8. Venus Williams (2246)
  9. Vera Zvonareva (2135)
10. Agnieszka Radwanska (2096)
11. Patty Schnyder (1594)
12. Nadia Petrova (1593)
13. Caroline Wozniacki (1580)
 
Doubles Standings
  1. Black/Huber (5393 - qualified)
  2. Medina Garrigues/Ruano Pascual (2733)
  3. Peschke/Stubbs (2378)
  4. Bondarenko/Bondarenko (2347)
  5. Chan/Chuang (2196)
  6. Srebotnik/Sugiyama (2142)
  7. Raymond/Stosur (2096)
  8. Yan/Zheng (2093)
 
Maria Sharapova has announced she will not be able to compete in Doha due to a shoulder injury.

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