Johanna Konta’s hopes of qualifying for the WTA Finals in Singapore were ended by injury.
Back-to-back title wins by Caroline Garcia had seen Konta bumped from the last qualifying spot for the lucrative end-of-season tournament.
But the British No1 had a final opportunity to claw back that place at the Kremlin Cup, aided by Garcia’s withdrawal from this week’s Tianjin Open because of injury.
But Konta, who needed to reach the final in Moscow to make it to Singapore, announced that she had been forced to pull out of the event because of a left foot injury.
If the 26-year-old recovers from her setback, however, she will be the reserve for the tournament, which sees the top eight-ranked players battle it out.
Konta had been in the same position a year ago, travelling to Singapore but failing to compete as the rest of the field stayed fit for the tournament.
The world No10 has been hampered by the injury since the Hong Kong Open this month and has struggled for form following her run to the semi-finals at Wimbledon.
Konta is on a five-match losing streak, her most recent defeat being a 6-1, 6-2 loss to world No65 Monica Niculescu in the first round of last week’s China Open. She has won just two matches since reaching the last four at Wimbledon.
Meanwhile, dual French Open runner-up Simona Halep, of Romania, heads the line-up for the WTA Finals.
