Aryna Sabalenka exited the WTA Finals in the semifinal stage, but she did not walk away empty-handed.
The Belarusian star left the Mexican resort city of Cancun having earned $648,000, taking her career prize money past the $20 million mark. Sabalenka becomes just the fifth WTA player under the age of 30 to hit this milestone.
Sabalenka's career earnings now stand at $20,377,563 joining Naomi Osaka, Elina Svitolina, Ashleigh Barty, and Iga Swiatek in that club. The 25-year-old is also the 24th player overall to achieve this figure in the all-time prize money leaderboard.
Sabalenka has surpassed Sam Stosur into the 23rd spot in the list after tallying two wins in the round-robin stage of the WTA Finals. Her campaign in Cancun was ended by Poland's Iga Swiatek, who also knocked her off Sabalenka from top spot in the rankings.
Despite her short-lived reign as World No. 1 (accounting for just eight weeks), the woman from Minsk has enjoyed the most productive WTA season of her career to date. She compiled a 55-14 record for the year, translating to a career-best win rate of 79.7%.
Sabalenka had a spectacular start to 2023, winning two titles in January, including a maiden Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open. She reached an additional four finals, winning the Madrid Open during the clay swing, and finished runner-up on three occasions.
The Belarusian powerhouse was the only player who made the semifinal or better at all four Grand Slams this season. In that stretch, she also made her second major final at the US Open but came up short against young American sensation Coco Gauff.
Sabalenka finishes her personal best season on the WTA tour having earned $8,202,653. She led the list until the final week of the season when Iga Swiatek toppled her after going undefeated at the year-end championships.
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