Johanna Konta WTA finals hopes dashed after knee issue forces her out of Beijing

Johanna Kontas hopes of reaching the season-ending WTA Finals are all but over after she was forced to withdraw from the China Open in Beijing.

Konta has felt some pain in her knee, her team have confirmed, and has decided to skip the Premier Mandatory event, which starts on September 28.

She will also miss Wuhan – a Premier 5 event that begins next week – and could be mathematically out of the race, barring late withdrawals, once that tournament concludes.

Currently 11th in the Race to Shenzhen – the new host city after the eight-player event left Singapore, Konta is 735 points behind eighth-placed Swiss Belinda Bencic.

Race to Shenzhen

1. Barty – 5476
2. Pliskova – 5256
3. Halep – 4792
4. Andreescu – 4727
5. Williams – 3935
6. Kvitova – 3836
7. Osaka – 3776
8. Bencic – 3615
9. Bertens – 3580
10. Svitolina – 3563
11. Konta – 2880

She can only rack up a maximum of 736 points by winning back-to-back tournaments in Linz or Tianjin and Moscow, which would mean she needs results to go heavily against Bencic as well as fellow contenders Kiki Bertens and Elina Svitolina.

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It will prove to be another near miss for the British No. 1, who has yet to qualify for the season finale.

Still, the 28-year-old can look back on her 2019 with pride.

Konta has enjoyed runs to the quarter-finals of the past three Grand Slams – reaching the semi-finals of the French Open – and has thrived in her partnership with coach Dimitri Zavialoff.

World No. 1 Ash Barty, who won the French Open, and Czech Karolina Pliskova are the only players to have mathematically confirmed their places in Shenzhen but Wimbledon and US Open champions Simona Halep and Bianca Andreescu are all but guaranteed to be there.

Australian Open champion Naomi Osakas place is less secure, with the Japanese currentlRead More – Source