BREAKING: Simona Halep withdraws from WTA Finals

World No.1 Simona Halep has been forced to withdraw from the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global due to an ongoing back injury. Halep speaks to WTA Insider after making the tough decision "The decision was tough for sure," Halep told WTA Insider. "It's always difficult to withdraw from a big tournament. Actually, I think it's the first time in my life. So it was a tough decision but it's better for my health. "Darren was 100% to withdraw because he's worried about the back and it's better to put the health first, always. He always did that with me since we started. So he was surer than me that we had to pull out. Then when I heard that he agreed with this it was easier for me to take the decision." "My back is not ok. I didn't practice for the last four weeks. I'm not ready to compete at this level and I'm still sore. It's not easy to go on court and compete at this moment." "This tournament is one of the most important because it is only eight players and it shows how good you worked this year," Halep said. "So it's really important and it meant so much to me because I qualified five years in a row. I'm feeling sad that I can't compete but sometimes it happens. This tournament, because of the format, because you play every match as a final, it's really tough to compete here and you have to be 100% every time." With Halep's withdrawal, the Elite Eight Singapore field in the order they qualified:

1. Angelique Kerber
2. Naomi Osaka
3. Petra Kvitova
4. Caroline Wozniacki
5. Sloane Stephens
6. Elina Svitolina
7. Karolina Pliskova
8. Kiki Bertens

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