WTA: Belinda Bencic remains in the race for Shenzhen - setback for Kiki Bertens
Belinda Bencic sustained her chances of participating in the WTA Finals in Shenzhen on Friday afternoon. The Swiss drew in the WTA tournament in Moscow after a 7: 6 (8), 6: 1 over Kirsten Flipkens in the semifinals and only need one more victory for the qualification.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Oct 18, 2019, 08:43 pm
Currently Bencic is in the race in tenth place, but with a victory over Kristina Mladenovic in the final round in the morning, she would have enough points to overtake Kiki Bertens and Serena Williams and secure eighth place.
Bertens lost just before Bencic's game against Mladenovic 4: 6, 6: 2, 1: 6. Bencic was 1-0 up against Flipkens in the opening set, but the number three on the seedling list took the returns earlier and eventually topped 120 in the world rankings after one hour and 34 minutes.
Should Bencic lose on Saturday, she would stay in tenth place. Bertens, who currently occupies ninth place, would then have to hope for a retreat from Serena Williams for the year-end tournament. The US-American has not decided yet whether she wants to compete in China.
Furthermore, Karolina Muchova reached the semi-finals of Moscow. The Czech defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova 6: 3, 6: 4 and now face a local hero: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets.