page_title: 2009 WTA Tour Championships
section_title: Singles
hierarchical_section_title: 2009 WTA Tour Championships / Qualifying / Singles
caption_attribution_description: English: Svetlana Kuznetsova at 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, Miami, Florida, United States
context_page_description: The 2009 WTA Tour Championships was held in Doha, Qatar from October 27 to November 1. It was the second time the Khalifa International Tennis Complex hosted the WTA Tour Year-End Singles and Doubles Championships.
  Women's Tennis Association rank No. 2 Serena Williams won her second year-end championships title, defeating sister, Venus Williams in the final 6–2, 7–6. The Spanish duo of Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez won the doubles event on their debut 7–6, 5–7, [10-7]. They defeated the World No. 1s in doubles and defending champions, Cara Black and Liezel Huber, in the final.
context_section_description: On August 5, the first qualifier for the year-end championship was announced in Dinara Safina.
  Dinara Safina enjoyed a good start to the year reaching the finals of ASB Classic losing to Elena Dementieva 6–3 2–6 6–1, followed by her second Grand Slam final, her first on a hardcourt in the Australian Open but was thrashed by Serena Williams 6–0 6–3. Safina then became the world no. 1 after Serena's Charleston points dropped off. She then made her 3rd final in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix but once again ended up on the losing side to Svetlana Kuznetsova 6–4 6–3. She then claimed two titles back-to-back in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia defeating Kuznetsova winning 6–3 6–2; and in the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open defeating Caroline Wozniacki 6–2 6–4.
  She then competed in her 4th straight finals and her 6th of the year at the French Open but once again lost to Kuznetsova 6–4 6–2. She then reached the Semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships but was once again questioned for her credibility as the world no. 1 as Venus Williams crushed her in the most dominating scoreline that a current world no. 1 has ever lost 6–1 6–0. - However she bounce back from that loss by winning the Slovenia Open defeating Sara Errani 6-7(5) 6-1 7-5 in the final. She reached her 8th final in Cincinnati but lost to Jelena Janković 6–4 6–2. Safina struggled in the US Open being pushed in the first and second rounds by much lower ranked players. She ended up losing to Petra Kvitová in the third round 6–4 2–6 7–6(5).
  This is Safina's 2nd appearance and is trying to win her first match as she went 0-3 last year.
   On August 19 - The second qualifier was announced as Serena Williams following her semifinal appearance at the Rogers Cup. 
  Serena Williams Began the year by winning the Australian Open. She then reached the final of the Sony Ericsson Open after defeating Venus in the semifinals to keep her no.1 ranking. Playing injured she lost to Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-1. From there she went on a four match losing streak, the longest of her career and lost World No. 1 ranking to Safina on April 20 to Dinara Safina when she pulled out of Family Circle Cup. Despite a lack of preparation, Williams reached the quarterfinals of the French Open before losing to the eventual champion Kuznetsova 7–6(4), 5–7, 7–5, which ended her 18-match Grand Slam winning streak.
  However she rebounded at Wimbledon defeating Elena Dementieva 6–7(4) 7–5 8–6. The match was named by many as the best match of the year, she then claimed her third title by defeating Venus 7–6(3) 6–2. In the US Open, she reached the semifinals. She reclaimed the no. 1 spot for two weeks from Safina after outperforming Safina in the China Open. This is Serena's sixth appearance and is trying to reclaim the world no. 1 from Dinara Safina. Serena won the event in 2001 and was the runner-up in 2002 and 2004. Serena has a 10-5 record in the year-end championships.
  On the 4th of September, Caroline Wozniacki and Elena Dementieva were the third and fourth to qualify, respectively
  Elena Dementieva has enjoyed a remarkable season that was begun by winning 15 consecutive matches including titles in ASB Classic and Medibank International Sydney where she defeated the top two seeds Serena Williams and Dinara Safina, she then reached the semifinals of the Australian Open losing to eventual champion Serena 6–3 6–4. She then reached the finals of Open GDF Suez losing to Amélie Mauresmo 7–6(7) 2–6 6–4. At the French Open she was upset by Samantha Stosur after winning her match against Jelena Dokić due to Dokić's retirement. Dementieva played one of the most memorable matches on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in 2009 when she was defeated by Serena Williams in the semifinals of Wimbledon (6–7(4) 7–5 8–6) in a marathon that lasted nearly three hours. Dementieva's successful hard court season was highlighted by winning the Rogers Cup in Toronto defeating Maria Sharapova 6–4 6–3 in the finals  and clinching the title of US Open Series winner. However she was upset by Melanie Oudin in the second round of the US Open. Dementieva a
caption: Svetlana Kuznetsova won her second Grand Slam at the 2009 French Open
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