Venus Williams (37) followed Czech Karolina Pliskova (25) in the knockout round of the top four at the WTA final in Singapore.
The old champion from the USA won her last match of the White Group against Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza (Spain) 7:5,6:4. Pliskova had already beaten the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 1:6,3:6 before the defeat.
On Friday, Williams and Pliskova will decide who to deal with in the semi-finals on Saturday. Caroline Wozniacki is already qualified, for the so far unbeaten Danish Caroline Wozniacki is only interested in winning the Red Group. The French Caroline Garcia, the world number one Simona Halep from Romania and – at least theoretically – the so far victorless Ukrainian Elina Svitolina also stand a chance for the knockout round.
Pliskova is in the semi-finals for the first time in their second appearance in Singapore. Meanwhile, the older of the two Williams sisters can continue to dream of their second title at the unofficial World Championships after 2008.
Last year’s Singapore finalist Angelique Kerber (Kiel) and defending champion Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) failed to make it into the female field of the season’s top eight players this time.