The WTA’s newest top 10 star Caroline Garcia, will not receive a wildcard entry into next week’s Moscow tournament as she tries to lock up eighth and final place in the race to Singapore’s WTA Finals.
Garcia, enjoying an 11-match winning streak after completing the unprecedented Wuhan-Beijing double, leapfrogged Johanna Konta into eighth place in the race after her latest Chinese triumph.
She is just 185 points ahead of the Brit, who will enter the Moscow event bidding to earn enough points to get back ahead of the Frenchwoman.
Garcia reportedly requested a wildcard into the Kremlin Cup to keep Konta at bay – but was turned down.
Kremlin Cup director Selivanenko about not giving WC to Garcia: It's our right. Our priority is Russian players (Championat. com).
— Ilya Ryvlin (@ryvlin) October 9, 2017
Garcia was originally scheduled to play this week’s tournament in Tianjin, but withdrew at the eleventh hour, citing injury. She was the top seed and was drawn to meet Maria Sharapova in the opening round.
Moscow, like all non-mandatory WTA events, receives two “top 20 wild cards”. Yet despite her current ranking of No.9, Garcia did not qualify for one of these as she was not ranked in the top 20 at the end of last season (she finished 2016 at No.23).
BUZZ BAROMETER: Caroline Garcia is on fire
“Who exactly receives these special invitations, as always, will be announced directly before the draw,” said WTA Kremlin Cup tournament director Alexei Selivanenko, in a translated article on championat.com.
“There are several options. On the one hand, we expect that these will be players with a world-wide name; on the other hand, they will be young players who will please our audience.”
May: French Tenis Fed denies Russian Sharapova a WC
October: Bigges Russian WTA tournament denies French Garcia a WC
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) October 9, 2017
Konta has entered the Kremlin Cup and needs to reach at least the final (305 points) to overtake Garcia in the race.
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The Brit has lost her last five matches.
It is not yet clear whether Garcia will attempt to secure a late entry into the concurrent tournament in Luxembourg.
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