An American pair and a Russian duo will face off for the final doubles place at the WTA Championships after U.S. players Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears won their Kremlin Cup quarterfinal Thursday.
Kops-Jones and Spears beat the Spanish-Indian partnership of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Sania Mirza 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals in Moscow.
Kops-Jones and Spears are fifth in the WTA's ranking list, with only the top four to qualify for the year-ending contest in Istanbul, but now face Russia's fourth-placed Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova in the semifinal of the Kremlin Cup.
The ranking points available for the semifinal in Moscow assure the winners of fourth spot and a place in Istanbul.
Kirilenko and Petrova beat another American pair, Lindsay Lee-Waters and Megan Moulton-Levy, 6-1, 3-6, 10-7 in their quarterfinal on a super tiebreak Wednesday.