China's French Open champion Li Na capped the best season of her career by qualifying for the year-end WTA championships in Turkey.

Li becomes the fifth singles player to qualify for the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul from October 25 to 30, joining world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka.

The WTA finale features the top eight singles players and the top four doubles teams over the course of the season. Li made history at Roland Garros in June by becoming the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam title. She also reached the final at the Australian Open, where she lost to Kim Clijsters.

Ranked No 6 in the world, the 29-year-old reached a career-high at No 4 in June.

"This year has been the most successful of my career so far, and I'm very happy to have qualified," Li said. "I'm proud to be the first Chinese woman to qualify in singles for this event, and I look forward to some tough matches against the best players of the season."

Agence France-Presse