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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday October 20, 2022

 
Maria Sakkari

The final spot at this year's WTA Finals will be determined by Maria Sakkari and Veronika Kudermetova on Friday in Guadalajara.

Photo Source: Getty

On a day that started with seven players in the hunt for the final three spots to this year’s WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Aryna Sabalenka and Daria Kasatkina locked up their bids, while Maria Sakkari and Veronika Kudermetova set a winner-take-all quarterfinal for Friday in Guadalajara.

Tennis Express

And then there were two…


Madison Keys (loss to Azarenka), Jelena Ostapenko (loss to Kudermetova) and Danielle Collins (Loss to Sakkari) were all eliminated, as Kudermetova and Sakkari set up a high-stakes quarterfinal clash for the eighth and final spot at the WTA Finals.

Sakkari rallied from a set down to defeat Collins, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, to keep her hopes alive.

"It was meant to be," Sakkari said, according to WTATennis.com. “We both had very tough draws. It was not guaranteed that we were going to play each other in the quarterfinals. I think the passion, how much we want it, it got us to the point that we have to play each other just to get that one spot. It's going to come down to not who wants it more, but who plays a better match tomorrow.”

Kudermetova defeated Ostapenko, 6-4, 6-4 – the Greek owns the 2-1 head-to-head edge over the Russian.

The winner of Friday’s battle will join these seven to form this year’s elite eight:

No.1 Iga Swiatek
No.2 Ons Jabeur
No.5 Jessica Pegula
No.7 Coco Gauff
No.10 Caroline Garcia
No.4 Aryna Sabalenka
No.11 Daria Kasatkina

 

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