ZHUHAI, November 2, 2017
The Hengqin Life WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai now has a trio of semi-finalists after Ashleigh Barty, Anastasija Sevastova and CoCo Vandeweghe all scored vital wins in their respective groups on Thursday.
Julia Goerges and Kristina Mladenovic face off in Friday’s final group matches for a chance to complete the quartet. Twenty-one-year-old Barty earned her place in Saturday’s semi-finals with a confident, comprehensive 6-3, 6-4 win over former World No.1 Angelique Kerber to give herself an unassailable lead at the top of the Rose Group.
Angelique Kerber (photo: OSports)
“I’m happy to finish the year right now. After a long year it’s always good to spend time at home. At the end I was fighting until the last tournament and trying my best but it was not the best season of my career. At the end I will just sit down, take a few days or a few weeks and look back; try to learn from the positives and think about to do better next year,” Kerber told.
Sevastova Advances
Sevastova was also in imperious form, wrapping up her second consecutive straight sets win with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Barbora Strycova to take charge of the Camellia Group and stifle any chance of US Open champion Sloane Stephens overtaking her.
“I feel it’s my best Asian tournament in this year, so I feel great in Zhuhai. Yeah, I’m very happy playing semifinals here. I haven’t been playing so well in China, in Asia, particularly, but here somehow it suits my game, I think, the court, the balls. Yeah, I’m very happy. I love Zhuhai now (smiling).” “I thought about this tournament actually differently, because I think it’s like a normal tournament, because you have to win, like, two matches to advance. So I just thought about it like a normal tournament, and, yeah, for sure, it’s a good feeling to be finished now and to be out of the group in the semifinals. Now I have a day off,” Sevastova said.
Vandeweghe Wins
Vandeweghe looked equally assured in beating an injured Elena Vesnina 6-3, 6-2, following up on Tuesday’s victory over Shuai Peng to ensure supremacy in the Bougainvillea Group.
“I felt a lot better. I was feeling the court underneath me a little bit more. But also, I mean, it was tricky in itself, playing against an opponent that’s obviously hampered, and you’re just trying to kind of manage your own emotions with that and trying to keep your intensity, keep your focus, and that definitely gets a little bit tough,” Vandeweghe told.
“It’s a little bit different each match. I think in the first match I just made myself hate my opponent so much. That’s pretty much all it was. I just — you know, nothing against her (smiling). It was just me, like, that’s the only way I could get any sort of anger and intensity out, that I was going to hate my opponent that much just to get some fire going.” “Second match, it was more inward, just allowing kind of momentum slip and knowing — you know, I have been talking with Pat a bunch, and he’s been very intense towards me about I work too darn hard to let these two matches slip. So that was kind of what I was tapping into for today’s match.”
Goerges and Mladenovic, who are first up on Friday’s Order of Play in Zhuhai, head into their match with different tasks ahead of them. Goerges only needs to win one set to progress to the semis, while Mladenovic must secure a straight sets win to have any chance of finishing ahead of the German in the Azalea Group. Once the four semi-finalists have been decided a draw will take place to determine who plays whom.
