Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova celebrates after winning her women's singles group stage match against Coco Gauff of the U.S. on Nov. 7, 2024.Aleksandra Szmigiel/Reuters
Barbora Krejcikova grabbed the last semi-final spot at the WTA Finals with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Coco Gauff on Thursday, a result that eliminated second-ranked Iga Swiatek from the season-ending tournament.
And Ottawa’s Gabriela Dabrowski and partner improved to 3-0 in doubles.
Krejcikova completes a last-four lineup that already included top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, Zheng Qinwen and Gauff.
Krejcikova, the Wimbledon champion, won the Orange Group and will face Zheng in Friday’s semi-finals, while Gauff will take on Purple Group winner Sabalenka.
Swiatek earlier routed alternate Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-0 in less than an hour, but she needed Krejcikova to lose to third-ranked Gauff in order to advance from the Orange Group. Krejcikova, Gauff and Swiatek all finished at 2-1, and Swiatek was eliminated because she has a worse percentage of sets won.
Kasatkina replaced American Jessica Pegula, who withdrew from the tournament on Wednesday because of a left knee injury.
“I’m professional enough to always give 100 per cent no matter what the stakes are,” Swiatek said.
Meanwhile, Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe rallied to defeat Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk 4-6, 6-3, (10-6).
With the win, Dabrowski and Routliffe completed the round-robin stage with a perfect 3-0 record at the season-ending tournament, which features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
The No. 2 seeds secured first place in their pool with the win, rallying from a set and break down to finish the match in 93 minutes.
Dolehide and Krawczyk, who defeated Dabrowski and Routliffe in the final at Toronto’s National Bank Open in August, closed their first WTA Finals with a 0-3 record.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will face American Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Australia’s Ellen Perez, who finished second in their group with a 2-1 record, in Friday’s semi-final.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
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