Marta Kostyuk retired from her Ningbo Open second-round match against Ekaterina Alexandrova after losing the first set 6-4, and her exit secured Karolina Muchova the eighth and final singles place at the WTA Finals in Indian Wells, completing the eight-woman field.
Ningbo, China: Muchova did not hit a ball in Ningbo this week, and she still had the best day of anyone in the draw. Her place at the season-ending championships was settled in another woman’s second-round match, when the third seed took a medical timeout and then stopped playing.
A wrist that would not hold
Kostyuk lost the first set 6-4 to Alexandrova on Wednesday, took a medical timeout and then retired. She said on social media that a wrist problem, the same one that forced her to miss the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in September, had flared up again and that she needed more time to recover.
The retirement mattered far beyond one match. Kostyuk was the last player still capable of catching Muchova in the race for the final Finals place, and she needed a deep run in Ningbo to do it. With the Ukrainian out of the tournament, the arithmetic closed and the WTA confirmed Muchova’s qualification on Wednesday. As Iga Swiatek’s withdrawal had already shown, injuries have shaped the end of this race.
The elite eight is complete
Muchova joins Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka, Mirra Andreeva, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Elina Svitolina and Linda Noskova in the field. The tournament runs from 8 to 15 November at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. It is Muchova’s second Finals qualification; she withdrew from the 2023 event with an injury. Her 2026 season earned the place: titles at the Qatar Open in Doha and the Bad Homburg Open, a runner-up finish at Stuttgart’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, and a run to the Wimbledon final, where she lost to fellow Czech Noskova.
Alexandrova awaits Fernandez, Bejlek stuns Cirstea
Alexandrova moves into her second consecutive Ningbo quarter-final, where she will meet Leylah Fernandez. The Canadian needed three hours and three minutes to beat qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3 after trailing 5-3 in the first set, reaching her first Ningbo quarter-final and her fifth of the season. Fernandez beat Alexandrova in three sets in Wuhan last week, but Alexandrova leads the head-to-head 3-2, and their last three meetings have all gone the distance.
The other half of the day belonged to Sara Bejlek. The Czech beat eighth seed Sorana Cirstea 7-6(3), 6-4, saving two set points at 5-6 in the first set before taking the tiebreak 7-3. It was her fifth win over a top-20 opponent this year. Cirstea, who has said this is her final WTA season, had beaten Bejlek at Wimbledon earlier in 2026. Bejlek will next play fellow Czech Marie Bouzkova, who beat Anastasia Zakharova 7-5, 6-2, in an all-Czech quarter-final.
For Kostyuk, the focus now shifts to rest and recovery. For Muchova, the Finals begin on 8 November.
Alexandrova d. Kostyuk 6-4 ret.; Fernandez d. Sasnovich 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3; Bejlek d. Cirstea 7-6(3), 6-4; Bouzkova d. Zakharova 7-5, 6-2. Ningbo Open (WTA 500), second round, Wednesday 21 October 2026.
