Daria Kasatkina got a big win before taking the court Thursday night at the Guadalajara (Mexico) Open Akron.
The seventh-seeded Russian was confirmed as having clinched a berth in next week’s WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas.
Kasatkina, who is ranked 11th in the world, won tournaments earlier this year in San Jose, Calif., and Granby, Quebec.
News that Kasatkina is headed to Fort Worth eased the pain of what came next, as she fell 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to another Russian player, Anna Kalinskaya, in third-round action.
The WTA also announced on Thursday that Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka sealed a WTA Final bid. Sabalenka, ranked fourth in the world, lost her second-round match in Guadalajara on Wednesday to Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova.
Joining Kalinskaya in the quarterfinals will be the three U.S. players, third-seeded Jessica Pegula, fifth-seeded Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens; plus fourth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece, eighth-seeded Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka and the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova.
Stephens upset sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France 7-6 (6), 7-5.
Sakkari will square off with Kudermetova on Friday with the winner earning a berth in the WTA Finals and the loser eliminated from contention.
–Field Level Media