MEXICO: Aryna Sabalenka and Daria Kasatkina secured qualification for the WTA Finals on Thursday while a faceoff between Maria Sakkari and Veronika Kudermetova in Guadalajara will decide the final spot at the season-ending event on the women's tour.

The WTA Finals, featuring the world's top eight singles players and doubles teams, will start in Fort Worth, Texas on Oct 31. Kasatkina, who was beaten 6-3 2-6 6-3 by Anna Kalinskaya on Thursday, will make her debut in the season finale after winning in San Jose and Granby, while fourth-ranked Sabalenka will make her second appearance.

Greek fourth seed Sakkari kept alive her hopes of making the Finals by surviving an early scare and fighting back from a set down to beat American Danielle Collins 5-7 6-3 6-3. With the deciding set level at 3-3, Sakkari, who had squandered a set point in the first set, dug deep to win three straight games against Collins and progress to the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 event.

Sakkari will face Kudermetova, who beat Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 6-4 6-4, and the winner of that match will snap up the last qualification spot on offer at the Finals.

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 22 2022

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