Friday 30 October 2015 16:56, UK
Angelique Kerber has criticised the format of the WTA Finals after she exited the tournament with a straight sets defeat against Lucie Safarova.
The German only needed to take a set from the already eliminated Czech to reach the semis, but slumped to a 6-4 6-3 defeat at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Spain's Garbine Muguruza had earlier beaten Petra Kvitova 6-4 4-6 7-5 in the penultimate White Group contest and Kerber insisted she was distracted by the qualifying permutations.
"I think it's not fair, because I think it's like in the football. Like when it's really counting for something, you should play like the same time," said the World No 7.
"I was actually trying to be in my tunnel and just focusing on my match. I told everybody I'm not counting. I will go out and play my match. They were counting. 'Okay, she won one set, now you must win just one set'."
Muguruza finished top of the group and will face Agnieszka Radwanska in Saturday's semis, while Kvitova will take on Red Group winner Maria Sharapova.
The Spaniard was two points from defeat when serving to stay alive at 4-5, but she duly held and then broke Kvitova again in the following game.
An exciting finale saw Kvitova save three match points and also miss two chances to force a tie-break before Muguruza clinched victory - and first place.
