Russia's Elena Dementieva has earned a chance to salve her Grand Slam pain with a $1 million prize, organisers of the end-of-season Tour Championships said on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old, runner-up at both the French and U.S. Opens earlier this year, is the third Russian woman to book her place in the elite eight-player line-up for the Los Angeles event.
Her conquerors in the Paris and New York finals, compatriots Anastasia Myskina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, were earlier confirmed as qualifiers for the November 10-15 tournament.
World numbers one and two, Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo, have also qualified with three spots still up for grabs.
Two other Russians are competing to make the line-up, Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and Vera Zvonareva. Both play at the $1.3 million Zurich Challenge in Zurich this week.
Dementieva will be making her fifth straight appearance in the season-ending championships following her most successful season on the WTA Tour.
She reached her first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros and a few months later, her second at the U.S. Open.
Dementieva has appeared in five finals this season, adding the NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami and last week's Kremlin Cup in Moscow to the Grand Slams, along with a title win at the Belgian Open in Hasselt earlier this month.
The top eight singles players and the top four doubles teams qualify for the Championships. The singles winner will win $1 million in prize money.