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Eugenie Bouchard, Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic have completed the lineup for the WTA Finals in Singapore later this month after their closest challengers were knocked out early at the China Open. |
Germany’s Angelique Kerber and Ekaterina Makarova of Russia lost in the third round in Beijing on Thursday to send the quartet through to the Oct. 20-26 tournament alongside Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova.
Seventh seed Kerber, who is ninth in the Road to Singapore, tossed away a one set lead to lose to Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, while U.S. Open semi-finalist Makarova, 11th in the standings, also lost in three sets to Italian Roberto Vinci.
Dominika Cibulkova (10th) was not competing in Beijing after retiring from her first round match against Madison Keys in Wuhan last week.
Italian Vinci had already knocked out Pole Radwanska in the previous round, with former world number one Ivanovic the only one of Thursday’s four Singapore qualifiers still involved in the Beijing event.
“It’s been my big goal since the beginning of the year,” the Serb said. “Everyone really earns a spot there, and I feel like I’ve been playing so well the whole year. I was working really hard towards this.”
Ivanovic, who won in Japan last month, will take on Halep in the last eight in China on Saturday, while Canadian Bouchard is already in Austria preparing for her next event after being bundled out by Sabine Lisicki in the second round in Beijing.
“I’m excited to compete in my first WTA Finals,” Wimbledon finalist Bouchard said. “I have worked hard all year on and off the court to qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore.”
World number one Williams is the defending WTA Finals champion having beaten China’s recently retired Li Na in last year’s final in Turkey.