Doha: Just 18 Days Away

There is less than a month to go until the Sony Ericsson Championships - Doha 2008, and there's still quite a lot of mystery as to who will make up the final four spots in the eight-woman, four-team field at the $4.45-million season-ender.

The singles field began taking shape during the summer hardcourt season. Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic were the first two to qualify, doing so the week of Montréal at the end of July; Dinara Safina and Serena Williams followed during the second week of the US Open at the beginning of September; and Elena Dementieva was the fifth to join the eight-woman field after winning her first match in Tokyo in mid-September. Svetlana Kuznetsova has become the sixth player to qualify, doing so this week.

Three players have set themselves apart from the rest of the pack as the leading candidates for the two remaining singles berths, namely Vera Zvonareva, Venus Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska. Nearly 400 points separates Radwanska from the next players on the list, namely Nadia Petrova and Caroline Wozniacki.

Cara Black and Liezel Huber were the first to qualify for the doubles event, doing so just before the US Open in mid-August. Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual became the second team to qualify, doing so this week. A whole host of teams are in the hunt for the third and fourth berths