Carla Suarez Navarro’s bid to qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore has ended after she retired during her second round match against Daria Gavrilova at the Moscow Open.
The second seed got off to a positive start in the match by breaking for an 2-0 lead before she gradually faded away after being troubled by a right wrist injury. Despite producing 14 winners, eight less than Gavrilova, Suarez Navarro decided to call it quits after trailing 4-6, 0-3.
It is not the first time that the world No.12 has been troubled by a wrist injury on the tour. Going into the 2015 clay court season, she was hampered by the problem after reaching the final of the Miami Open. The issue had little impact on the outcome of her clay season where she lost to Maria Sharapova in the final of the Rome Open.
This week the Spaniard needed to win the Moscow title in order to progress to the Singapore tournament where the eight best players in the world will battle it out. Due to her withdrawal, Great Britain’s Johanna Konta still has the final qualifying spot for the tournament. The only player that could overtake the Brit is Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Russian needs to defend her Moscow title this week in order to qualify.
Elsewhere at the Kremlin Cup, fourth seed Elina Svitolina dismissed Yulia Putintseva 6-2, 6-2, in exactly 90 minutes. The Ukrainian saved four out of the five break points she faced and claimed 63% of her service points. In the last eight Svitolina will play lucky loser Ana Konjuh. Konjuh progressed to the quarter-finals after her second round opponent, Anna Blinkova, withdrew due to a left hamstring injury. It will be the first meeting between the two on the tour since the 2014 Istanbul Open where Konjuh grabbed the win in three sets.
