American Jessica Pegula defeated Wimbledon Champion Elena Rybakina to end her hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals at the Guadalajara Open while Coco Gauff and Caroline Garcia became the latest players to punch their ticket to Forth Worth, Texas.
Pegula, who has already secured her qualification, saved three match points in the deciding set to earn a 2-6 6-3 7-6(8) victory to move to 2-0 against the Kazakh in their career head-to-head.
Rybakina, who needed to win the Guadalajara Open in order to reach the finals, sent down 14 aces against Pegula who weathered the storm before pouncing on her only matchpoint. Rybakina would have made the finals if Wimbledon had not been stripped of its ranking points after its decision to ban Russian Belarussian athletes.
Meanwhile, Coco Gauff and Caroline Garcia punched their ticket to the WTA Finals after Aryna Sabalenka was upset by Liudmila Samsonova.
Samsonova, who has won 20 of her last 22 matches, broke the big-hitting Belarusian four times en route to a 6-4 2-6 6-2 win over the world number four.
Her ouster along with Gauff winning 7-6(1) 6-3 against Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto means the teenager is heading to her first finals appearance. She will take on another Italian Martina Trevisan in the next round.
Garcia, meanwhile, appeared in the finals once in 2017. She will face Sloane Stephens in the next round.
Two-time major winner Victoria Azarenka defeated top-seed Paula Badosa 6-2, 0-0 after the Spaniard retired due to breathing difficulties. Azarenka will next face Madison Keys, who battled back from a set down to beat Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 3-6 6-4 6-3.
Danielle Collins and Jelena Ostapenko, also in contention for the final spots, won their respective matches as well.
