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Madison Keys has withdrawn from the WTA Finals due to illness after being eliminated from the tournament before her final round-robin match against Elena Rybakina.
Rybakina, who is already through to the semi-finals as the group winner, will instead play second alternate Ekaterina Alexandrova in the dead-rubber.
Mirra Andreeva, the first alternate, elected not to face Rybakina because she is still involved in the doubles tournament and “not being fit to play today”.
Keys signalled that she was feeling ill as she avoided shaking hands with Amanda Anisimova after her defeat to her fellow American on Monday.
Keys, the Australian Open champion, was knocked out of the WTA Finals after defeats to Iga Swiatek and Anisimova in her first two matches.
After Anisimova sealed victory, Keys made a gesture to Anisimova that she was dealing with an illness and didn’t want to pass it on – pointing towards her chest and stomach area.
Anisimova appeared to laugh it off, with both players instead returning to the side of the court after a brief conversation across the net. Keys also chose not to shake hands with the umpire.
Amanda Anisimova responds after Madison Keys signals that she did not want to shake hands (REUTERS)
Jasmine Paolini is reportedly also struggling with illness at the WTA Finals, with the Italian knocked out of the singles but still involved in the doubles along with Sara Errani.
The winner of the later match between Swiatek and Anisimova will join Rybakina in the semi-finals as runner-up. Keys was making her comeback at the WTA Finals after taking two months out following the US Open.
Anisimova and Keys both struggled throughout their match, which was their first meeting. Anisimova was visibly upset as she trailed by a set and a break but recovered to win 4-6 6-3 6-2.
There was another comeback in the earlier match on Monday as Rybakina won 12 of the final 13 games against Swiatek to beat the World No 2, winning 3-6 6-1 6-0.
Swiatek beat Anisimova 6-0 6-0 in the Wimbledon final in July, with the American getting revenge when they met in the US Open quarter-finals a few weeks later.