Thursday’s round-robin play at the Hengqin Life WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai saw Ashleigh Barty, Anastasija Sevastova and Coco Vandeweghe progress into the semifinals of the season-ending finale, as the tournament’s two Grand Slam champions, Angelique Kerber and Sloane Stephens, suffered elimination in the group stage of the event.
After winning her opening Rose Group match over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Wednesday, the brand new world No.20 Barty, seeded ninth, knocked out world No.19 Angelique Kerber from the competition, beating the German eighth seed 6-3 6-4 to advance to Zhuhai semifinals as a leader in her group.