LINZ, October 14, 2016

Three of the top four seeds at the Generali Ladies Linz found their way into the semi-finals of the WTA International event. The tournament’s number one Garbine Muguruza was forced to retire in her evening match against Viktorija Golubic from Switzerland at 7-5, 3-6, 4-4. The 23-year-old Spaniard twisted her ankle in the seventh game of the final set and got injured.

Golubic will next take on Madison Keys. The third seed from the United Stated, who entered the main draw with a wild card, ended the winning streak of French qualifier Oceane Dodin with a 6-3, 6-3 victory in only 56 minutes.

Despite the unlucky defeat, Muguruza secured her spot at this year’s BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global after becoming the sixth player to qualify for the season finale. She joins  Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwanska,Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova in the singles field.

“I am very excited to come back to the WTA Finals in Singapore,” said Muguruza.“Two years ago I made it in doubles, and this will be my second year in a row playing singles – both times I had a great experience and am happy to be going back.”

Second favourite Dominika Cibulkova fought past the tournament’s number five Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from Russia, winning 7-6, 6-4. The world number 10 from Slovakia withstood seven aces, hitting two of her own to meet Carla Suarez Navarro next. The 28-year-old Spaniard battled past Denisa Allertova from the Czech Republic, sealing a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory in one hour and 57 minutes.