ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) announced on Monday that the doubles duo of Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova have qualified for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, to be held at the Singapore Sports Hub from Oct 17-26.

The duo have won three titles this season - the Brisbane International, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and the Tianjin Open. They had needed to win the Tianjin Open in order to secure a spot in Singapore, and duly defeated Sorana Cirstea and Andrea Klepac 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 10-8 in the final.

The No. 1 seeds at the event, Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta, were the only other team in the running for the eighth and final spot in the doubles field at the WTA Finals in Singapore. However they lost in the quarter-finals.

First teaming up in 2009, Kudryavtseva and Rodionova have played 39 tournaments together, winning five titles.

Said Rodionova after the Tianjin win: "First of all, we're very happy to win this title. We weren't thinking about bigger picture; our goal this week was to win this tournament. We're very happy how we played and getting into Singapore is great."

Kudryavtseva and Rodionova will join doubles teams of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, Peng Shuai and Hsieh Su-wei, Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina, Cara Black and Sania Mirza, Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears, Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik and Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro.

The teams will compete in a single-elimination draw at the WTA Finals, with the winner taking home the Martina Navratilova Doubles Trophy. The official doubles draw ceremony will be held on Oct 21.

Tickets for the general public start at S$16.90 and can be purchased through Sports Hub Tix (wtafinals.sportshubtix.sg).