MINSK, 1 November (BelTA) - Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens of Belgium wrapped up the group stage at the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen on a sour note, losing 6-4, 2-6, 5-10 to Timea Babos of Hungary and France's Kristina Mladenovic on 1 November, BelTA has learned.
In the opener Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens lost to Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands 5-7, 6-1, 7-10. Then, they defeated Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching from China's Taipei 7-6, 6-4. If Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs lose to Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching in two sets today, then advancing to the semifinal will be Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, and Aryna Sabalenka and Elise Mertens.
Samantha Stosur of Australia and China's Zhang Shuai, and also Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic and Hsieh Su-wei of China advanced to the knockout stage in the Purple Group doubles.
Ashleigh Barty of Australia and Belinda Bencic of Switzerland have sealed semifinal berths in the Red Group singles.
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine has secured a semifinal spot in the Purple Group singles. Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic and Simona Halep of Romania are yet to decide who will take the second semifinal spot.
The prize money of the WTA Finals which is to run through 3 November is $14 million.
