Kuznetsova's 6-2 6-1 victory in Moscow ensured she took the eighth and final tournament spot.
Konta, who is in Singapore with the rest of the finalists, did not play this week due to an abdominal injury.
The Australian-born 25-year-old, ranked 10th in the world, will compete if any player withdraws.
Kuznetsova, 31, took just over an hour to defeat her 22-year-old Australian opponent on Saturday and qualify for her first WTA Finals since 2009.
"I was trying not to think about Singapore all week. I was playing match by match and I'm so happy to win," she said.
Kuznetsova will next face world number three Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in Monday's group stages, before later games against Czech Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza of Spain.
Konta will finish her season at the WTA Elite Trophy for players ranked from ninth to 20th, which gets under way in Zuhai, China, on 1 November.
It will complete a season that has seen her named the most improved player of the year after she recorded seven victories over top-10 players, and became the first British woman to break into the top 10 since Jo Durie in 1984.

They were found in burial grounds in the Al-Kamin al-Sahrawi area in Minya province, south of Cairo.
The tombs contained a collection of different sarcophagi, or stone coffins, as well as clay fragments.
Egypt's antiquities ministry said the discovery "suggests that the area was a great cemetery for a long span of time".
One of the tombs, which was reached through a shaft carved in rock, contained four sarcophagi that had been sculpted to depict a human face.
In another, excavators found six burial holes, including one for the burial of a small child.
Clay fragments found at the site date the tombs between the 27th Dynasty, founded in 525BC, and the Greco-Roman era, which lasted between 332BC and the 4th Century.
Ali al-Bakry, head of the mission, said one of the tombs contained bones believed to be the remains of "men, women and children of different ages".
"These tombs were part of a large cemetery for a large city and not a military garrison as some suggest," he said.
In a statement, the antiquities ministry said that "works are under way in order to reveal more secrets".
This work follows previous excavation at the site, which began in 2015.

The two parties have reached a mutually satisfactory agreement and the legal case has been dropped, according to a statement given to Screen Daily.
They producers had claimed her last-minute departure caused delays on the Natalie Portman-starring Western.
The Scottish film-maker had previously denied reports she was being sued.
Ramsay's last film, an adaptation of the novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, starring Tilda Swinton, premiered to critical acclaim in competition in Cannes in 2011.
The film also earned her a Bafta nomination and the best director prize at the British Independent Film Awards.
Jane Got a Gun will tell the story of a woman who asks an ex-lover for help in saving her husband from a gang who want him dead.
Jude Law and Bradley Cooper also left the production shortly after Ramsay. The film will now be directed by Gavin O'Connor, with a cast including Ewan McGregor and Joel Edgerton.
"Jane Got a Gun Production LLC and Lynne Ramsay announce the pending civil action and all other disputes between the parties associated with Jane Got a Gun Motion Picture have been resolved privately and to their mutual satisfaction," said the statement published by Screen Daily.
It was not revealed whether the resolution involved a financial settlement. Ramsay herself has yet to comment.
Several sources claimed the disagreements involved delays and control of the film's final cut, with the Hollywood Reporter claiming Ramsay had not been presented with an approved schedule, script or budget days before shooting was set to begin.
In November, the Hollywood Reporter also published court papers, in which it was claimed Ramsay "was repeatedly under the influence of alcohol, was abusive to members of the cast and crew and was generally disruptive".
Ramsay later issued a statement saying she had not been served with that particular lawsuit.
"The allegations as recently reported are simply false," the statement added. "Lynne looks forward to presenting the truth about this situation in the proper forum."
British number one Johanna Konta missed out on a place in the WTA Finals after Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Daria Gavrilova in the Kremlin Cup.
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Archaeologists have discovered three tombs that date back around 2,000 years in southern Egypt.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Director Lynne Ramsay has settled a legal dispute with the producers of the film Jane Got a Gun, which she quit days before shooting began last year.