Angelique Kerber grabs final berth for WTA Finals

Florida, Oct 12 (IANS) Angelique Kerber grabbed the eighth and final spot in the year-ending WTA Championships with the win in the quarterfinals of the Linz Open.

The German star will join Serena Williams (United States), Victoria Azarenka (Belarus), Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland), Li Na (China), Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic), Sara Errani (Italy) and Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) in the prestigious event, which runs in Istanbul from Oct 22-27.

According to the WTA statement Friday, the singles draw ceremony will be held on Oct 20, and the two alternate positions will be determined in the current and upcoming WTA events and will also be announced prior to the draw.

The top eight singles players and top four doubles teams will compete in Istanbul for a record $6 million prize money and the most prestigious title on the WTA calendar after the Grand Slams.

The teams in the doubles field at the season finale will be Errani and Roberta Vinci, Peng Shuai and Hsieh Su-Wei, Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik, and Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.