Kuznetsova reaches last eight to keep WTA Finals hopes alive

MOSCOW: Top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova (pic) cruised into the quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup with a straight-sets win over Alize Cornet to keep her hopes alive of making the WTA Finals.

The two-time Grand Slam title winner, ranked ninth in the world, won 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 45 minutes on Wednesday.

Russian veteran Kuznetsova needs to win the Moscow title if she is to make the elite eight-woman field at next week’s season finale in Singapore.

If she fails, then Britain’s Johanna Konta will take the final spot.

“I was battling with myself throughout the match,” Kuznetsova said.

“I played my normal tennis from the start but after earning the lead I began to perform feebly for no reason. I was going up and down throughout the entire match.”

In the last eight, Kuznetsova will meet ninth seed Timea Babos of Hungary, who saw off another Frenchwoman, Kristina Mladenovic 6-1, 6-4.

The hopes of third-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro of reaching the WTA Finals were ended after a wrist injury forced her to retire from her second-round match with Daria Gavrilova of Australia.

Suarez Navarro started with an immediate break but Moscow-born Gavrilova rallied to take the opening set 6-4 in 49 minutes. Gavrilova led 3-0 in the second when Suarez Navarro decided to withdraw.

“I think I played pretty well today,” Gavrilova said.

“I lost my serve in the very beginning but I felt like I was still in it.

“I managed to find the momentum, I had a lot of chances and finally it all worked out.”

Gavrilova will next face seventh seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 2014 title winner, who ousted 2008 Kremlin Cup champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-1, 6-4.

In the ATP event, second-seeded Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas made the quarter-finals with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 win over local favourite, Evgeny Donskoy. — AFP