Elina Svitolina has said that she is ‘motivated’ by the opportunity of playing at the WTA Finals in Singapore after reaching the quarter-finals in Hong Kong.
The Ukrainian is one of five players still competing for three spots at Singapore and kept her hopes of qualifying alive with a 6-0 6-3 victory over Nao Hibino.
There were six breaks of serve in the match as Svitolina broke on five of those occasions to seal a rapid 57 minute win to make the last eight in Hong Kong.
After the win the top seed claimed that she is motivated to reach the WTA Finals in Singapore, “Singapore gives me a bit of extra motivation, of course, but I don’t try to think about it. I don’t want to have this pressure in my head,” said Svitolina in her post-match press conference.
“I know there is pressure, but I know there is four other players who are in the same situation as me. I just try to go on court and play the way I want to play, and then what happens, happens.”
The world number five also said that she feels angry playing Hong Kong this week, “I finished the match very solid, and that’s going to definitely give me confidence for the next match. I was dominating from the beginning. I was really angry today.”
Joining Svitolina in the race to Singapore are Sloane Stephens, Kiki Bertens, Karolina Pliskova and Aryna Sabalenka. The in-form Belarusian, Sabalenka, has to reach the final in Tianjin this week to stand a chance while Bertens has the edge over Pliskova in their mini-battle.
As for Sloane Stephens she has taken a wildcard into the Kremlin Cup next week, which Pliskova, Bertens and Sabalenka are all competing in as well.
While Svitolina will have to progress beyond the semi-finals to give herself the best possible chance of qualifying for the WTA Finals. Here is the line-up for tomorrow’s quarter-finals in Hong Kong:
Elina Svitolina (UKR) [1] v Qiang Wang (CHN) [6]
Garbine Muguruza (ESP) [4] v Luksika Kumkhum (THA)
Dayana Yastremska (UKR) v Kristina Kucova (SVK)
Daria Gavrilova (AUS) [7] v Shuai Zhang (CHN)
