Pliskova’s 6-1, 6-2 loss to Zvonareva, the 2010 Wimbledon and US Open runner-up, also secured Elina Svitolina’s spot in the eight-woman field in Singapore next week.

Czech star Pliskova’s participation was confirmed after fourth seed Kiki Bertens lost 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus.

“I’m delighted to be appearing at the WTA Finals for the third time,” Pliskova said.

“I have such great memories from playing in Singapore in 2016 and 2017, and I can’t wait to close out the year competing against the other elite players of 2018.”

Pliskova and Svitolina joined top-ranked Simona Halep of Romania, Germany’s Angelique Kerber, Japan’s Naomi Osaka, Czech Petra Kvitova, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and Sloane Stephens of the USA.

They will battle for a $7 million (6.1 million euros) prize purse in Singapore.

Bertens, who sits ninth in the race to Singapore rankings, could still feature at the season-ending event as Halep, who pulled out of the Kremlin Cup on Tuesday, is battling a back injury.

She was diagnosed with a herniated disk following her withdrawal from Beijing two weeks ago.

The 34-year-old Zvonareva, who was unranked last year after taking a two-year hiatus to have her first child, claimed her first victory over a top-10 player since beating Caroline Wozniacki at the WTA Tour Finals in 2011.

“I knew that matches against top-10 players never come easy and tried hard to capitalise on every single opportunity that I had today and it paid off,” the current world number 161 said after downing Pliskova.

Third-seeded American Sloane Stephens, the French Open finalist and former US Open champion who qualified for the WTA Finals earlier this week, also slumped to a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur.

In the quarter-finals, Jabeur will face eighth seed Anett Kontaveit, who saw off Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 7-6 (7/3).

In the men’s draw, left-handed Frenchman Adrian Mannarino cruised into the last eight past top-seeded Italian Marco Cecchinato, beating this year’s French Open semi-finalist 6-2, 6-3 in just 50 minutes.

The 30-year-old Mannarino will next meet Belarusian qualifier Egor Gerasimov, who beat Benoit Paire 6-4, 6-4.

 The 18-year-old lightweight scored a 5-0 points decision over Burlan Safarov of Azerbijan to set up a showdown in the final against Taras Bondarchuk of Ukraine.

“I have achieved my target by reaching the final. I stuck to the instruction from my coach to bother him with my one-two punch combination,” said the teenager from Nakhon Ratchasima, who won gold at the World Youth Championships in Budapest in August.

 “If I can maintain this level,” he added. “I’m quite confident about my chances in the final but I won’t underestimate my rival. I hope I can win the gold medal as a gift for my parents.”

Three more Thais will fight for the gold medals tonight.

They include flyweight Sarawut Sukthet, who eased past Luiz Gabriel Chalot De Oliviera of Brazil 4-1 in his semi-final.

The 17-year-old, who was bitten by Afghan opponent Sultan Mohammad Naeemi on the left shoulder in the previous round, will take on Britain’s Ivan Price in the final.

Atichai Phomsap reacts after his win.

“I was being patient and waiting for the right time to punch for points. In the final, the British guy is quite tall and has long arms. But I have no fear – my goal is to take the gold home,” Sarawut said.

In the women’s boxing, featherweight Panpatchara Somnuek beat Dearbhla Rooney of Ireland 4-1 and will face Jennifer Carrillo of Mexico in the final, while lightweight Porntip Buapa trounced Emma Lawson of Australia 5-0 to book a date with Briton Caroline Sara Dubois.

The only Thai to exit at the semi-final stage was middleweight Weerapon Jongjoho, nephew of former Olympic champion Somjit Jongjoho, who lost to Keno Machado of Brazil 5-0

The 17-year-old who became the first Thai boy to win the singles event in Indonesia last year will lead the 17-member Thai team in the tournament which features the mixed team event due between November 5-10 and the individual event, due between 12-18.

Badminton Association of Thailand president Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul was confident the local youngsters will win at least a medal.

“We have produced impressive results in the World Junior Championships over the past 10 years by winning medals in every edition since 2008. So over the next few weeks the players and the coaching team will have to work hard in order to achieve good results in Canada,” said the badminton chief.

Thailand won one gold and one silver by Phittayapron Chaiwan in girls’ singles from the 2017 episode.

 Phittayapron Chaiwan

Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul and the players 

When the morning sun rises in Tokyo, so too do the Rikishi (Sumo) in training at Tokyo’s Arashio Heya (Sumo House), and today, they changed up their training to invite World Championship riders Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu), Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Jorge Martín (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) to train together ahead of the Motul Grand Prix of Japan.

After studying the Rikishi training schedule for the first time, the riders donned their shorts and joined the Rikishi in the sacred Dohyo (fight ring) to learn some basic Sumo wrestling moves. After a quick stretch and warm up it was time for the MotoGP™ stars to test out their new skills against the Rikishi.

First up was Nakagami who came in hot and gave his all to push the young Rikishi out of the ring. But his efforts were fruitless against the unshakeable warrior who didn’t move an inch. Martín tried his luck next but was easily lifted over the wrestler’s head and taken out of the ring.

Alvarez joins a stacked ONE Championship roster, which is the most talent-rich martial arts roster in the industry including world champions from mixed martial arts, Muay Thai, kickboxing, boxing, and the like.

Chatri Sityodtong, Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, stated: “I am thrilled to announce that multiple-time world champion Eddie Alvarez will be joining ONE Championship on a multiple-bout contract. Eddie is one of the world’s best martial artists in the world, and is no doubt a tremendous addition to the ONE roster. The ONE Championship roster is incredibly deep with talents such as Shinya Aoki, Eduard Folayang, and Amir Khan, among others. I am excited to have Eddie in that mix and to see some amazing matchups and performances. This is no doubt one of the biggest athlete signings in the history of ONE Championship.”

Known as “The Underground King”, former multiple-time world champion Eddie Alvarez of the United States is a mixed martial arts legend who has competed for the world’s top mixed martial arts promotions. The experience he has gathered over a stellar 15 year professional career so far is beyond impressive, with wins over some of the biggest names in the sport. Alvarez’ most notable victories have come against the likes of Roger Huerta, Shinya Aoki, Gilbert Melendez, Anthony Pettis, Rafael Dos Anjos, and most recently Justin Gaethje. Recognized for his well-rounded skills and unwavering will to win, Alvarez now joins the ONE Championship lightweight division looking to continue his legendary career in the world’s largest martial arts organization.

Atthaya and Vanchai, who finished eighth and fourth in the girls and boys individual events last week, rebounded to claim gold for Thailand in the mixed team event, carding a total of 12 under-par-268.

The United States and hosts Argentina took silver and bronze with total scores of 269 and 273.

Their success also boosted the national team after a flop at the Asian Games flop in Jakarta in August, when Thailand, one of the regional favourites, failed to bring home a single medal.

“I was a bit disappointed to not win any medal in the individual [event] so I was determined to make amends in the mixed team and I made it,” said 15-year-old Atthaya, the youngest winner of a Ladies European Tour when she won the LET in Chon Buri last year. “I’m so honoured to win gold for my country,”.

Vanchai had actually braced himself to settle for silver as the US team led by five strokes after 15 holes – but they suffered a series of bogeys and let the gold slip away.

“After 15 holes, I just tried to play safe to make sure that we would take at least the silver. I didn’t know we would win until I finished the round. I have to give big credit to Atthaya for shooting scores for our team,” the 16-year-old Vanchai said.

It marked the first Youth Olympic Games golf gold medal for Thailand after Danthai Boonma and Supamas Sangchan won bronze in the boys and girls events in China four years ago.

It was also Thailand’s third gold in Argentina after Kanthida Saengsin and Supatchanin Khamhaeng won the women’s taekwondo 55kg and the women’s weightlifting 63kg.

Thai racer Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik was once again joined by his Australian teammate Shae Davies.

Sandy qualified in 8th position in Qualifying 1 with his Porsche 911 GT3 R. The times were close in the session, so the race was shaping up to be an exciting one.

Shae Davies qualified in 13th position in Qualifying 2, in a hotly contested session.

Sandy took the start in Race 1 and was up to 5th position until a crash between a Nissan GTR GT3 and an Audi R8 GT3 happened in front of the Thai driver. The collision was unavoidable, Sandy did everything he could to evade. The damage sustained was too heavy to continue the race, meaning the Thai driver had to retire his Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Craft Bamboo Racing team mechanics did a fantastic job to get the car repaired and race-ready for Race 2 the following morning.

Shae Davies took the start in Race 2, and after a lot of chaos in the start, the Australian managed to settle down in 13th position before handing the car over to his Thai teammate. Sandy fought as hard as he could to maintain position but the lack of pace from the car was making a points-finish seem difficult. The Thai driver was then unfortunately tagged into a spin during a racing incident. He was unable to restart the engine, and was forced to retire the car.

“It has been one of the most challenging weekends and seasons in my career. The team has done a fantastic job all season and we’ve been able to get a podium, but ultimately I feel that the car we’ve had has been lacking pace all season. We will be back stronger and faster, and we are working towards next season already.

I want to thank all my supporters for following me this season and all the years previous, and I will do everything I can to bring the Thai flag and National Anthem to the circuits next year!” Sandy says.

Sandy Stuvik is honored to be supported by The Pizza Company, Singha Corporation, Thai Airways, Thaiwings Travel Agency, Dacon Inspection Services, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Sports Authority of Thailand, and the Royal Automobile Association of Thailand.

As a special tribute to its 80th anniversary, AIA Thailand is sending 8 runners, including staff and agency force, to join Oxfam Trailwalker, the largest fundraising trail running event in Hong Kong on 16-18 November 2018.

The event aims to support Oxfam, a confederation of independent charitable organizations to reduce poverty and injustice. AIA Hong Kong has been the Principal Sponsor of Oxfam Trailwalker for 4 consecutive years and has helped raising over 14 million baht.

As a special tribute to its 80th anniversary, AIA Thailand is sending 8 runners, led by Mr. Tan Hak Leh, Chief Executive Officer and 7 teammates to test their limits by completing the grueling 100km trail with the challenge of 23 hills and 4,500 metres of positive elevation within the time limit of 48 hours.

This event represents the human force to support Oxfam’s various poverty alleviation and emergency relief projects that aligned with AIA Thailand’s brand promise “Healthier, Longer, Better Lives”. For those who are interested to donate to Oxfam, please click http://bit.ly/AIATHTeam1 or http://bit.ly/AIATHTeam2