Chinese wildcard Zhang Shuai secures spot in Elite Trophy semis
ZHUHAI, China (AP) β Chinese wild-card entry Zhang Shuai became the first player to secure a semifinal spot at the WTA Elite Trophy tournament, beating Timea Babos 7-6 (2), 6-4 on Thursday to secure the top spot in her group with two wins.
After a 6-1, 6-1 opening win over Timea Bacsinszky, Zhang needed to win just four games against Babos to win the group. She fell behind 4-1 before recovering to level at 4-4 and then held on to win the first set in a tiebreaker.
She rebounded from a break down in the second set to clinch the win in 1 hour, 36 minutes.
Caroline Garcia beat Sam Stosur 6-4, 6-3 to set up a Friday encounter against top-seeded Johanna Konta for a spot in the semifinals in their group.
Marin Cilic qualifies for ATP finals with win at Paris Masters
The tournament in Zhuhai features the 12 players on the tour who didn't qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore last week.