Johanna Konta misses out on WTA Finals place after Svetlana Kuznetsova defends Kremlin Cup
Saturday 22 October 2016 17:23, UK
Johanna Konta missed out on a place in the season-ending WTA Finals after Svetlana Kuznetsova raced to a 6-2 6-1 victory over Australian Daria Gavrilova to defend her Kremlin Cup title in Moscow.
Kuznetsova was broken in her first service game to fall 2-0 behind but the Russian broke back immediately to claim the first of 10 straight games as she roared to victory in 73 minutes against the world No 37.
The 31-year-old had to win to qualify for the Singapore event and her victory represents heartbreak for British No 1 Konta, who held the final spot but will now drop down to first alternate after even taking part in a glitzy draw ceremony on Friday.
"I felt worn out ahead of the start and had no idea of how I would play today," Kuznetsova said.
"Luckily, my desire to play prevailed and I managed to overcome the tiredness. I really wanted to show my best tennis here and I'm happy that everything worked well."
Kuznetsova, a twice Grand Slam champion, must now rush to Singapore for her first round robin match in the White Group against defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Monday.
Czech Karolina Pliskova and Spanish French Open champion Garbine Muguruza are the other two players in the group.
Action starts in the Red Group on Sunday when Romania's Simona Halep faces American Madison Keys before German world No 1 Angelique Kerber takes on Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova.
The top two players from each pool advance to the semi-finals.
Kuznetsova will be making her sixth appearance at the year-ending tournament and will be looking to advance from the round robin stage for a first time.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on qualifying for the WTA Finals, Konta picked up the tour's Most Improved Player Award on Friday in recognition of her climb from 147th in the world in mid-2015 to number 10 in the latest rankings.
The 25-year-old Briton also claimed her maiden WTA Tour title at the Stanford Classic in June.
