Johanna Konta's WTA Finals chances bolstered by Carla Suarez Navarro exit
Wednesday 19 October 2016 14:57, UK
British No 1 Johanna Konta is one step closer to finishing her stellar season at the WTA Finals in Singapore, after Carla Suárez Navarro crashed out of the Kremlin Cup on Wednesday.
The Spaniard was one of two players who could leapfrog Konta into the prestigious event had she won in Moscow, and her second round exit - retiring 6-3 3-0 down to Australia's Daria Gavrilova - means the world No 12 is out of the running for the Finals.
Konta is placed precariously in eighth spot in the race to Singapore, the final spot available, and now faces an anxious wait to see whether or not Svetlana Kuznetsova can retain the Kremlin Cup.
Success for the Russian will exclude Konta from the Finals, but the 25-year-old Brit has enjoyed a phenomenal year, including becoming the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1984 to break into the world top 10.
Kuznetsova began her bid with a 6-4 7-5 victory over France's Alize Cornet and she will face ninth seed Timea Babos in the quarter-finals after the Hungarian eased past Kristina Mladenovic in straight sets.
World No 1 Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, Karolina Pliskova, Garbine Muguruza, Madison Keys, and Dominika Cibulkova have already qualified for the WTA Finals.
