ST PETERSBURG (Florida), Oct 25: Vera Zvonareva and Venus Williams have clinched the final two places in the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha from Nov 4 to 9.

The world’s top eight singles players and top four doubles teams from this season will compete for the Championships title and a share of the record prize money of 4.45 million dollars.

Wimbledon champion Venus will be making her third career appearance at the Championships but first since 2002, having reached the semi-finals on both previous attempts while Zvonareva will be making her second appearance and first since 2004.

They join world number one Jelena Jankovic, Roland Garros champion Ana Ivanovic, US Open champion Serena Williams, Roland Garros finalist and current World No 2 Dinara Safina, Olympic gold medallist Elena Dementieva and former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the eight-player line-up.

“I am really pleased to have qualified for this year’s season-ending Championships in Doha,” said Venus.

“Competing in a round robin format against the players who have performed the best in 2008 is an exciting challenge. This year has been a very positive year for me and I am looking forward to continued success in Doha,” she added.—AFP