Lucie Safarova qualifies for WTA Finals

Moscow: Czech Lucie Safarova has secured the eighth and final place for the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Finals in Singapore after Spanish Carla Suarez was knocked out by Russia's Darya Kasatkina 1-6, 2-6 from the quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup here.

Suarez, ranked 14th in the world, had to reach the Kremlin Cup final in order to beat Safarova to the last place in the 2015 WTA Finals to be held between October 25 and November 1. But she was on Thursday defeated by the 18-year-old Russian, ranked 104th in the world, Efe reported.

With the qualification, 28-year-old Safarova joins Romanian Simona Halep, Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, Russia's Maria Sharapova, compatriot Petra Kvitova, Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, German Angelique Kerber and Italian Flavia Pennetta.

The two alternates, if any of the eight is absent, will be the Swiss Timea Bacsinszky and the American Venus Williams.