Naomi Osaka, Zheng Qinwen, and 3 more Top-25 WTA players who missed a title as 2025 season comes to an end

Naomi Osaka and Zheng Qinwen found varying degrees of success in the 2025 season. While Osaka had her big breakthroughs after returning from maternity leave, Qinwen struggled with injuries.

There was, however, one area when the two shared a similar fate: the lack of titles. And they are not the only ones. In fact, at least five top-25 WTA players went the year without winning any title. Here, we take a look at their seasons and how they managed to hold onto their position in the rankings.

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Linda Noskova

Toray Pan Pacific Open - Day 3 - Source: Getty

Linda Noskova enjoyed a career-best season in 2025, one that saw her reach a new high in rankings at No. 13. She played consistently well at Tour events, but faltered on the big stage including the Grand Slams and tournament finals.

The Czech made it past the third at only one of four Slams, the US Open, losing in the last-16 to Karolina Muchova.

Noskova did have multiple chances to anchor her season with a trophy. The first came on home soil at Prague but she lost the summit clash to compatriot Marie Bouzkova. She would go on to make her biggest finals at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing but came up short against Amanda Anisimova. She also lost in the final to Tokyo to Belinda Bencic.

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Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka at the 2025 US Open. (Source: Getty)

The 2025 season reinstalled faith in Naomi Osaka’s faith in her own abilities as she showed flashes of the form that took her to four Grand Slam titles and the World No. 1 ranking a few years ago.

After a quiet start to the year, Osaka made her biggest final in over three years at Toronto. She came agonisingly close to the title but was denied by teen sensation Victoria Mboko in three sets.

While that was the only final that the Japanese player made this year, she had a few strong semifinal finishes. The most notable of these came at the US Open, where she was beaten by Amanda Anisimova.

To be fair to her though, Osaka did win a title, albeit at the WTA125k level. It was this very run at Open de Saint-Malo that set the ball rolling for her strong second half of the year.

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Zheng Qinwen

Zheng Qinwen at the 2025 China Open. (Source: Getty)

Zheng Qinwen has only managed sporadic play in the 2025 season due to a right elbow injury, which even required her to undergo surgery in July.

The Chinese player has only participated in one tournament since, her home event in Beijing. She made the second round but was forced to withdraw from her encounter against Linda Noskova.

Zheng did not even make a final this year, with her best results being the semifinal run at Rome and a quarterfinal finish at the French Open. As a result, her ranking has also dropped outside the top-20 (at No. 24 currently) from a career-high of No. 7.

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Liudmila Samsonova

Liudmila Samsonova at the Wuhan Open. (Source: Getty)

A big-striker of the tennis ball, Liudmila Samsonova can blow any opponent off the court when in form. She had first made waves in 2022, by reaching and winning her first four Tour finals.

The Russian did participate in one final this year, at the WTA 500 event in Strasbourg. She came close to lifting the trophy, but lost the final to Elena Rybakina in three sets.

Nonetheless, Samsonova enjoyed her career-best season in terms of Grand Slam results in 2025. Her 9-4 record at the big events includes a quarterfinal at Wimbledon and a fourth-round finish at the French Open.

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Karolina Muchova

Karolina Muchova at the 2025 US Open. (Source: Getty0

Karolina Muchova was another immensely talented player, the fifth overall in the top-20 bracket, who went the 2025 season without winning a singles title.

To be fair though, the Czech player has never been someone who’s winning multiple trophies a year. Her best tennis has instead come to the fore on stages like Grand Slams. This year, Muchova put on another great show at the US Open. However, the run was cut short by Naomi Osaka in the quarterfinals.

Outside of the Slams, Muchova reached the semifinals at Dubai and Linz. She also went on to become the Czech No. 1 before being overtaken by Noskova.

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Edited by Vedant Chandel