Second seed Maria Sharapova’s chances of finishing number one for the first time in her career was weakened by Petra Kvitova at the WTA Finals on Thursday.
The Russian, the only woman with any chance of overtaking Top seed Serena Williams, lost 6-3 6-2 to Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in Singapore.
The win is the Czech third seed’s first at the season-ending tournament which showcases a field of Top 8 WTA stars. It also ended a run of five consecutive matches without a win against the French Open champion, as well as improving her head-to-head record to 3-6.
Earlier in the day, Caroline Wozniacki defeated Poland’s Agniesza Radwanska 7-5, 6-3 to maintain an unbeaten record in the White Group at the WTA Finals.
The Dane has now won two out of two round robin matches following her epic 3 hours 13 minutes 3-setter win over Sharapova on Day two of the tournament.
Serena kept her chances of reaching the semi-finals of the WTA Finals alive courtesy of a 6-1 6-1 win over Eugenie Bouchard.
A day after failing to earn more than two match points in her straight sets loss to Simona Halep, the American, 33, returned to winning ways in a rather commanding fashion against Canada’s Bouchard to climb second in the Red Group.
“Yesterday was tough for me but I had to put it behind me,” said the US Open champion. “My coach really helped me out and to focus on today, telling me that I’m still in the tournament, even though I felt like I was out of it after such a tough loss.”
The 18-time Grand Slam winner, who only managed two games against Halep on Wednesday, got her swagger back, with a couple of fierce serves and raked up 16 winners.
“I was up 4-0, so I thought I’d hit a bg serve and see what happens,” Williams added. “It was 200km? I don’t even know what that is in miles.”
Williams must now hope Halep does her a bit of favour by taking at least a set in her Day 6 clash with Serb Ana Ivanovic. Halep has now qualified from the group after the world number one’s victory, but could seal top spot on Friday.
