WTA Finals
Years Sponsor Name
1972-1978 Virginia Slims Virginia Slims Championships
1979-1982 Avon Avon Championships
1983-1994 Virginia Slims Virginia Slims Championships
1995 None WTA Tour Championships
1996-2000 Chase Chase Championships
2001 Sanex Sanex Championships
2002 The Home Depot Home Depot Championships
2003 Bank of America Bank of America WTA Tour Championships
2004 None WTA Tour Championships
2005-2010 Sony Ericsson Sony Ericsson Championships
2011-2013 BNP Paribas and Türk Ekonomi Bankası TEB-BNP Paribas WTA Championships Istanbul
2014-2018 BNP Paribas and SC Global BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global
2019-2028 Shiseido Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen
History -- Official names
The event has a more than 40-year history of corporate sponsorship with the finals named after the sponsoring company . [ 4 ]
The WTA Finals (formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships short: WTA Championships) is a tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked professional players. The tournament predates WTA and started in 1972 as the Championship tournament of WTA Tour's predecessor: the Virginia Slims Circuit. Since 2003 there have been eight singles players divided into two round-robin groups, and eight doubles teams. The WTA Finals is unofficially considered the fifth most prestigious WTA Tour event of a season after the four Grand Slam tournaments. It also has the largest prize money and ranking points after the majors. The most successful finals player is Martina Navratilova, who has won eight singles and 13 doubles titles. To qualify for the WTA Finals, WTA players compete throughout the year in over 53 WTA tournaments throughout the world, as well as the four Grand Slam events. Players earn ranking points on the Porsche Race To Shenzhen leaderboard, and the top 7 singles players (and usually top 8) and top 8 doubles teams on this leaderboard at the conclusion of the year (as of the Monday following the final regular season tournament) earn the right to compete in the WTA Championships. For singles, all results from that year count towards a player's ranking; for doubles, only the best 11 results for a team from that year count towards the team's ranking. The eighth spot in singles is not guaranteed a place in the finals as the WTA has some leeway per the WTA rules. Qualified players participate in a round-robin format in two groups of four. The winners and runners-up of each group advance to the semifinals.