WTA Tour Championships Begin; Jankovic Clinches #1

Jelena Jankovic has clinched the year-ending #1 spot on the WTA Tour regardless of who wins this week's Year End WTA Tour Championships in Doha, Qatar.

The draw for the event is here (pdf), with competitors being placed into two groups, where they play a round-robin and the top two finishers in each group go forward to the semi-finals.

WHITE GROUP
1. Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
4. Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
6. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
8. Vera Zvonareva (RUS)

MAROON GROUP
2. Dinara Safina (RUS)
3. Serena Williams (USA)
5. Elena Dementieva (RUS)
7. Venus Williams (USA)

Four Russians, two Serbians and two Williams! Venus and Serena are in the same half, which is actually a good thing, because the semifinals are #1 in Maroon group plays #2 in White group and #2 in Maroon group plays #1 in White group. If the sisters win both of their matches against Safina and Dementieva then the match they play against each other would be meaningless, and they would not be meeting in the semifinal, but possibly in the finals.