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Dominika Cibulkova defeated third-seeded Simona Halep of Romania in straight sets on Thursday to join Angelique Kerber in the semifinals of the WTA Finals in Singapore. Cibulkova prevailed 6-3, 7-6 (5) over Halep prior to Kerber posting a 6-3, 6-3 win over sixth-seeded American Madison Keys.
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Kerber finished off Red Group round-robin play with a 3-0 mark. Cibulkova, Halep and Keys all were 1-2 but the Slovakian advanced by virtue of her straight-sets win over Halep.
"This win is really, really big for me," the eighth-seeded Cibulkova said afterward. "I feel relieved. It seems like I'm playing my best tennis under biggest pressure."
The top-seeded Kerber has reached the semifinals for the first time in four attempts at the WTA Finals. She had already clinched a spot in the semifinals by virtue of Halep's loss before Kerber took the court against Keys.
"Today I wasn't thinking about that I already was in the semis," Kerber said. "It was important to go out to win the match and win all three matches.
"Now I'm going to the semis with three really good matches, which gives me a lot of confidence."
Keys needed to win only one set against Kerber to reach the semifinals but failed to do so. She was disappointed about not being able to hold up under the pressure of the competition.
"I let nerves get the best of me, and I think that happens to everyone," Keys said afterward. "Just something that I need to work on. It's not a bad thing. It happens to a lot of people. People figure it out.
"Obviously, I'm not the best at it, at 21. But hopefully there is a couple more years to figure that out."
In the White Group, eighth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova has already qualified for the semifinals. Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland -- the second seed -- and fourth-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic will meet Friday to determine the last semifinalist.
Fifth-seeded Garbine Muguruza of Spain has already been eliminated from reaching the semis.
