Karolína to Play at WTA Finals for Third Consecutive Year!
The qualification for the WTA Finals is a reality! Karolína didn’t play a good match against Vera Zvonareva in Moscow on Wednesday, but due to the loss of Kiki Bertens, her main rival, she can start packing for Singapore.
Semifinals at the Kremlin Cup would have secured a spot at the WTA Finals for Karolína, but her match against the former world number two didn’t turn out well, so she had to wait for her competitor’s results. But Bertens didn’t manage to cope with the big pressure and very busy schedule of the past few days either and after losing against Sasnovich of Belarus the last free spot in Singapore fell into Karolína’s hands.
“I’m really happy to be in Singapore of the third consecutive year. It’s my goal at the start of every season. Although this season didn’t shape up as I had expected, I must now assess it positively in view of the qualification for the WTA Finals. It’s a top event for 8 of the best players as a reward for the season and that’s also how they treat players there. I’m traveling there to enjoy it and at the same time to fight for the best possible result,” said Karolína after final confirmation of the eight qualified players.
“I have great memories of my starts in Singapore in 2016 and 2017. I can’t wait to close the season with other elite players of 2018 again,” added Karolína. Last year Karolína beat Venus Williams and Garbiñe Muguruza to reach the semifinals, where she lost against Jeļena Ostapenko. In 2016 she finished her campaign in the group stage.
Qualification for the WTA Finals for the third consecutive year is a unique achievement. Of the eight qualified players this year, apart from Karolína only Simona Halep has three consecutive starts.
Order of the 2018 WTA Finals qualified players:
- Simona Halep (ROM) 6921
- Angelique Kerber (GER) 5375
- Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 5086
- Naomi Osaka (JPN) 4740
- Petra Kvitová (CZE) 4255
- Sloane Stephens (USA) 3943
- Elina Svitolina (UKR) 3850
- Karolína Plíšková (CZE) 3840
Alternates: - Kiki Bertens (NED) 3710
- Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 3145
- Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 3100
And @KaPliskova completes the field! The top 8 at the #WTAFinals is set! pic.twitter.com/0KeXDiuJyC
— WTA Finals Singapore (@WTAFinalsSG) 17. října 2018
