Two teams composed of players that did not compete in the WTA Finals singles (except Finals Alternates) or doubles competitions, using the players’ combined doubles rankings as of the Monday after the final regular-season Tournament of the current Tour Year to determine the order of acceptance; and up to two teams composed of players that did not qualify to compete in the WTA Finals singles (except Finals Alternates) or doubles competitions and that include at least one Elite Trophy Singles Qualified Player or Elite Trophy Alternate, using the higher of the players’ combined singles or doubles rankings as of the Monday after the final regular-season Tournament of the current Tour Year to determine the order of acceptance.

The six doubles teams were split into two round robin groups, with the winner of each advancing to the final.

Sofia Kenin had a breakthrough season in 2019, winning her first career title in Hobart in January.

Her grand slam breakthrough came at the French Open where she defeated Serena Williams en route to reaching the fourth round.

She also reached a quarterfinal at French Open and in Osaka, finishing the season inside the top 20 for the fourth straight year.

Keys was making her third appearance in Zhuhai, having bowed out in the round robin stage in 2015 and 2018.

She also reached quarterfinals in Eastbourne and Zhengzhou, finishing the season inside the top 20 for the second straight year.

Sabalenka was making her second appearance in Zhuhai, having narrowly missed a chance to reach the semifinals last year.

Petra Martić enjoyed her career best season, picking up her first singles title in Istanbul.

Elise Mertens carried on from she left off last season, picking up her first premier level singles title in Doha.

She also made a semifinal in Osaka and quarterfinals in Sydney, Rabat, Mallorca and most importantly at the US Open.

Mertens was making her second straight appearance in Zhuhai, having fallen in the round robin stage last year.

Donna Vekić also enjoyed her career best season, highlighted by her first grand slam singles quarterfinal US Open.

She also reached quarterfinals in Charleston, Nottingham and Cincinnati, finishing the season inside the top 30 for the first time.

Karolína Muchová qualified for Zhuhai just two days before the start of the tournament after putting together some good performances during the season, the most noteworthy of which was her first grand slam quarterfinal at Wimbledon.

Her performance at grand slam events was extremely disappointing though as she failed to win a match in all four of them.

Zheng was making her second appearance in Zhuhai, having also received a wildcard in 2015 when she failed to advance past the round robin stage.