RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) 鈥� Barbora Krejcikova grabbed the last semifinal spot at the WTA Finals with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Coco Gauff on Thursday, a result that eliminated second-ranked Iga Swiatek from the season-ending tournament.
Krejcikova completes a last-four lineup that already included top-ranked , Zheng Qinwen and Gauff.
鈥淲ell, I was definitely super excited to be here, to come here, to qualify to play against the best ones,鈥� Krejcikova said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 really know where everything started to come together. Before the tournament, I had a couple of days where we hit lightly and already during those hits, I felt quite good. And I think definitely for me, it鈥檚 a big thing that it鈥檚 the last tournament of the season.鈥�
Krejcikova, the Wimbledon champion, won the Orange Group and will face Zheng in Friday's semifinals, while Gauff will take on Purple Group winner Sabalenka.
Swiatek earlier routed alternate Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-0 in less than an hour, but she needed Krejcikova to lose to third-ranked Gauff in order to advance from the Orange Group. Krejcikova, Gauff and Swiatek all finished at 2-1, and Swiatek was eliminated because she has a worse percentage of sets won.
Kasatkina replaced American Jessica Pegula, who from the tournament on Wednesday because of a left knee injury.
鈥淚鈥檓 professional enough to always give 100% no matter what the stakes are," Swiatek said.
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AP tennis:
The Associated Press
