Daria Kasatkina shouldn’t be pleased with the WTA together with a Grand Slam winner exterior of the highest eight among the many qualifiers for the Finals. The 27-year-old was known as as much as change the injured Jessica Pegula on Thursday and was rewarded with a £154,000 payout.
Underneath the brand new guidelines, gamers who occupy the highest seven within the WTA Race safe computerized qualification for the Finals. The remaining place is reserved for the highest-ranked Grand Slam winner between eighth and twentieth who shouldn’t be already certified.
Barbora Krejcikova was the beneficiary of that rule, incomes her spot on the WTA Finals as a consequence of profitable Wimbledon earlier this yr. She has made essentially the most of her alternative, having reached the semi-finals with assertion wins over Pegula and Coco Gauff.
Kasatkina, who misplaced to Iga Swiatek in straight units on Thursday, believes solely the highest eight within the WTA Race ought to qualify for the Finals with no locations reserved for Grand Slam champions.
She stated: “For my part, the WTA Race is the WTA Race so it’s about what number of factors you earn throughout the yr. For those who win a Grand Slam, you already bought what you achieved.
“You received the Grand Slam, factors, cash, glory, all the pieces. Right here, it’s the WTA Race, so I feel on this state of affairs it has to go by factors.”
Regardless of her emphatic win over Kasatkina, Swiatek didn’t qualify for the knockout levels of the WTA Finals as a consequence of different outcomes going towards her. Krejcikova’s win over Gauff meant that she progressed to the semi-finals as a substitute of Swiatek.
After the match, the Pole admitted she was unaware that qualification was out of her arms, saying: “Truthfully, I don’t suppose it issues, like we exit on courtroom to win each match anyway, so I wasn’t excited about that.
“I didn’t know that that is the case. I’m skilled sufficient to at all times give 100 per cent it doesn’t matter what the stakes are. If I’m not going to play semis then I’ll have a few days off.
“I can’t take again time and play higher within the match that I performed towards Coco. I received two matches within the group, so I suppose I did all the pieces I might to be there.”
Krejcikova will face Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen within the final 4, whereas Gauff will go up towards Aryna Sabalenka. Each matches are set to be performed on Friday with the ultimate happening on Saturday.