Aryna Sabalenka continued her dominance over Zheng Qinwen with victory in the first match of the season-ending WTA Finals.
New world number one Sabalenka beat the Chinese seventh seed 6-3 6-4 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Sabalenka has won all five of her meetings with Zheng, including four this year, leading Chinese fans to nickname the Belarusian "the mountain that Zheng is yet to overcome".
Sabalenka beat Zheng in the Australian Open final in January and won her third Grand Slam singles title at the US Open in September.
She has never claimed the WTA Finals title - something she said on Saturday was "one of my dreams".