New partners Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs, both talented doubles players, qualified for the prestigious year-ending WTA Finals in their first year of partnership on their first attempt. This will be both players’ second appearance at this tournament, with the German qualifying back in 2017 alongside Kveta Peschke and Schuurs making her debut last year in Singapore alongside Elise Mertens.

The pair of Groenefeld and Schuurs made the final at the Qatar Total Open in their first tournament together, followed by a quarterfinal in Dubai but they would not compete as a pair until the clay season as they were still busy finding new partners after ending their long-term partnerships the previous year.

Groenefeld and Schuurs will be going for their first title of the year in Shenzhen | Photo: Wang He
Groenefeld and Schuurs will be going for their first title of the year in Shenzhen | Photo: Wang He

Runner-up finishes in Qatar, Rome, Birmingham, Toronto and Cincinnati were the highlights of their season and the pair would consider unlucky to have fallen in all five of their finals this year. Groenefeld and Schuurs will be looking to end their year on a high in Shenzhen, where they will contest a round-robin format for just the second time in the tournament’s history.

The doubles field is already set, with all eight qualified teams. Their opponents during the week include Timea Babos/Kristina Mladenovic, Elise Mertens/Aryna Sabalenka, Hsieh Su-wei/Barbora Strycova, Samantha Stosur/Zhang Shuai, Chan Hao-ching/Latisha Chan, Gabriela Dabrowski/Xu Yi-fan, and Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova.

VAVEL Logo
About the author