A defeat for Carla Suarez Navarro in Moscow has boosted Johanna Konta's hopes of reaching the end-of-season WTA finals in Singapore.
The British number one is currently nursing an abdominal strain and she may not recover in time for the tournament which begins at the end of the month.
However, after Suarez Navarro was forced to withdraw from her match with Daria Gavrilova while 6-4 3-0 down, Konta will claim the eighth and final spot should Svetlana Kuznetsova fail to win the Kremlin Cup.
The two-time Grand Slam champion defeated Alize Cornet on Wednesday but she must still win three more matches to finish ahead of Konta.
