Daria Kasatkina of Russia highlighted the social media abuse she has received after becoming the first player to reach the semi-finals of WTA Elite Trophy on Thursday.
The sixth-seeded Kasatkina beat 11th-seeded Magda Linette 6-3, 6-4. Kasatkina said the abuse is “completely out of control,” and she posted on social media an image showing some of the harmful messages she had received.
Kasatkina beat top-seeded Barbora Krejcikova in her first round-robin match in the Azalea group of the second-tier post-season event. Krejcikova and Linette have been eliminated.
Third-seeded Jelena Ostapenko rallied to beat Donna Vekic 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to win her opening match in the Orchid group, a result which eliminated the 10th-seeded Croatian.
Ostapenko will next play Chinese player Zheng Qinwen, who beat Vekic in her first match, to decide who advances as group winner.
Fourth-seeded Liudmila Samsonova overcame a first set stumble to defeat Chinese wild-card entry Zhu Lin 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the Rose Group. The Russian can secure a semifinal spot if she wins her second round-robin match over Veronika Kudermetova on Friday.
The 12-player tournament is the first postseason event on the women’s tour. It features the 11 highest-ranked singles players who did not qualify for next month’s WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico. Zhu, ranked 37th, is the final entry as a wild-card.