World No. 2 Iga Swiatek was eradicated from the WTA Finals on Thursday after Barbora Krejcikova defeated Coco Gauff to safe her spot within the semifinals on the expense of the Pole.
The Czech Wimbledon champion claimed a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Gauff to finish the title defence of Swiatek, who wanted Krejcikova to lose so as to progress from the group stage.
With one win and one loss underneath her belt coming into the final day of round-robin play, Swiatek’s 6-1, 6-0 victory over alternate Daria Kasatkina didn’t have any bearing on her qualification possibilities.
The one state of affairs that will have led to Swiatek’s development to the semifinals would have been a Gauff win over Krejcikova.
That end result didn’t materialise although and Krejcikova punched her ticket to the semifinals of the WTA Finals for the primary time — on her second singles look.
Krejcikova strikes ahead because the winner of the Orange Group, and can face Zheng Qinwen in Friday’s last-four stage, with Gauff of the USA advancing because the runner-up to arrange a semifinal showdown with world primary Aryna Sabalenka.
“Positively this can be a massive win for me. I’m actually proud of how I performed and with my efficiency at the moment. It was a extremely massive match,” mentioned Krejcikova, who saved a exceptional 11 of 12 break factors in opposition to Gauff.
Krejcikova celebrates beating Coco Gauff of their singles match throughout Day 6 of the 2024 WTA Finals Riyadh.
| Photograph Credit score:
Getty Pictures
Krejcikova celebrates beating Coco Gauff of their singles match throughout Day 6 of the 2024 WTA Finals Riyadh.
| Photograph Credit score:
Getty Pictures
“Taking part in tomorrow once more is one thing unimaginable earlier than this event and I’m actually happy with myself and I’m wanting ahead to the brand new challenges.
“I used to be simply preventing for each ball and I knew it’s going to be tough as a result of I do know Coco is on a roll and he or she’s among the best gamers this season. That was an enormous problem but in addition the large prize, the semis was on the desk. I’m tremendous excited to be right here.”
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Gauff saved two match factors in a 10-minute remaining recreation and had three alternatives to interrupt Krejcikova however the eighth seed wouldn’t fold, and he or she scooped the victory with a service winner after one hour and 42 minutes of play.
Krejcikova, who has gained simply 21 matches this season, earned her place within the WTA Finals discipline on account of a brand new rule launched by the Tour in 2024, which supplies precedence to a reigning Grand Slam champion over the eighth-ranked participant within the race.
Because the Wimbledon champion, Krejcikova grabbed the final spot in Riyadh over world quantity eight Emma Navarro, who selected to not come to Saudi Arabia as an alternate.
‘Did the whole lot I might’
Kasatkina, who made USD 00,000 as an alternate referred to as in to switch an injured Jessica Pegula in Thursday’s schedule, doesn’t suppose the brand new rule ought to have been carried out, and believes the highest eight within the year-to-end WTA Race needs to be those competing within the WTA Finals.
“In my view, the WTA Race is the WTA Race. So it’s in regards to the what number of factors you earn in the course of the 12 months. For those who win a Grand Slam, you already received what you achieved. You gained the Grand Slam, factors, cash, glory, the whole lot,” defined Kasatkina, who famous that she would have nonetheless been the primary alternate had the rule not been launched.
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Earlier within the day, Swiatek crushed Kasatkina in a mere 51 minutes and later admitted she had no thought her qualification possibilities solely relied on the results of the night match.
“Truthfully, I don’t suppose it issues, like we exit on courtroom to win each match anyway. So I wasn’t fascinated by that. I didn’t know that that is the case,” mentioned the Pole.
“If I’m not going to play semis, then I’ll have a few days off, and I can’t take again time and play higher within the match that I performed in opposition to Coco. I gained two matches within the group, so I assume I did the whole lot I might to be there.”
Swiatek’s season is just not over but as she plans on main Poland within the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, which kick off in Malaga on November 13.