Muchová Seals Final WTA Finals Berth After Kostyuk Retires in Ningbo

Karolína Muchová is going to the WTA Finals without having to win another match. The Czech world No. 6 secured the eighth and final singles place on Wednesday when Marta Kostyuk, the last player who could still catch her in the race standings, retired from her second-round match against Ekaterina Alexandrova at the Ningbo Open.

Kostyuk lost the first set 6-4, took a medical timeout and then stopped, confirming the wrist problem that had already ruled her out of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in September. She also withdrew from the Ningbo doubles with a right wrist injury.

The Ukrainian needed effectively a Ningbo final to stay in the race, and with her out, the arithmetic closed on Muchová's 4,735 points. Iga Swiatek, the only other contender, had already left the race after withdrawing from Ningbo with a left thigh injury and ending her 2026 season early.

Muchová, who sat out this week and plans to skip Osaka too, completes an elite field alongside Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka, Mirra Andreeva, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Elina Svitolina and Linda Nosková. The year-end championships run November 8–15 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California, the event's first year there after leaving Riyadh.

It caps a career season for the 29-year-old: a first WTA 1000 title in Doha, the Bad Homburg crown and a Wimbledon final. This is her second Finals qualification, but her first real chance to play it — she withdrew injured from the 2023 event.