Svetlana Kuznetsova claims maiden WTA Finals semi-final place

The 31-year-old Russian only confirmed her place in Singapore at the weekend with a Kremlin Cup triumph, and on Monday she defeated defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets.

On Wednesday she once more succeeded in three sets, taking her tally to 22-8 in 2016 matches of that length, to beat Karolina Pliskova and a win for Radwanska later in the day put Kuznetsova into the semi-finals.

Kuznetsova is the oldest women left in the competition and had reached the Finals for the first time in seven years, and she fell behind in the first set against Pliskova.

An early break put the Czech in charge and though Kuznetsova broke back, a double fault handed Pliskova the initiative and she made it count with a 6-3 success.

Kuznetsova battled back in the second set, taking it 6-2 even after she dropped her first service game as Pliskova struggled on her first serve.

The deciding set went back and forth, Kuznetsova eventually claiming her fourth match point with a backhand after eight break points had been converted en route to a tiebreak that Kuznetsova won 7-6 (8/6).

She then needed a favour from the woman she defeated on Monday to progress to the last four and Radwanska obliged later in the day.

The second seed defeated Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (7/1) 6-3 in just over 90 minutes to eliminate the Spaniard.

That means the winner of Friday's contest between Radwanska and Pliskova will join Kuznetsova in the final four.