Top seed Vera Zvonareva suffered a surprise defeat in the Kremlin Cup on Friday, losing to Slovakia’s eighth seed Dominika Cibulkova 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
The world No. 5 Russian took the first set but was convincingly overrun thereafter by Cibulkova, the world No. 23, who faces another Russian, Elena Vesnina, in the semifinals.
Vesnina progressed after her opponent, French third seed Marion Bartoli withdrew from their tie with a virus.
Bartoli’s exit hands the final place in the season-ending WTA Championships in Istanbul to Agnieszka Radwanska, who was upset in the second round by Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.
That surprise gave Bartoli the chance to overtake Radwanska’s point haul in the WTA race, but the world No. 11 had to win the tournament to do so.
