The match of the tournament so far at the WTA Elite Trophy took place between 10th seed Dayana Yastremska and eighth seed Donna Vekic with the 19-year old Ukrainian coming out on top 7-6 (6), 6-2 in the Azalea group.
Yastremska was never broken in the one hour, 35 minute contest and fired off 39 winners to set up a winner-take-all match with top seed Kiki Bertens tomorrow. Vekic's season, which saw her break into the Top 20 for the first time in her career, comes to an end after a loss similar to the one she suffered against Bertens.
Yastremska takes scintillating opening set behind fearless array of winners
Neither player was broken in the opening set, but it was Yastremska's amazing firepower that was routinely on display, nailing winners from all over the court, especially on the forehand side. She had a break point in the fourth game, saved by big serving and a trio of winners from Vekic.
The Croat was keeping pace, displaying her own powerful game and earned two break chances at 4-4, but Yastremska swatted them away with aggressive play and a high backhand volley. Both ladies held out to set up the tiebreaker. Vekic was much the better player, building a 6-4 lead when the turning point of the match came.
The Ukranian smoked a backhand winner down the line to save the first set point and crushed a forehand to save the second and draw level at 6-6. Another forehand winner brought up set point and a third forehand saw Vekic tamely net, the 19-year old a set to the good.
Teenager storms through second set to edge closer to the semifinals
The eighth seed appeared to shake off the disappointment of the opening set loss, winning the first eight points on her serve to confidently build a 2-1 lead. Despite her lead, she was now absorbing the finesse that Yastremska possesses, angled slices and dinked putaways now on display by the Ukrainian.
The fifth game saw the 19-year old break with another vicious forehand that Vekic had no answer for to take a 3-2 lead. Strong serving helped save a break point in her next service game and the double break was confirmed when Yastremska powered a backhand past the helpless Croat to go up 5-2.
Serving for the match, Yastremska fired off an ace and her 37th, 38th and 39th winners of the contest to seal a highly impressive debut victory and a clash with Bertens for a semifinal spot.
Post-match comments from brilliant Ukrainian
In her post-match press conference, Yastremska talked about rallying from 6-4 down in the tiebreaker, saying "I think it was an important moment in the tiebreak, like I was 6-4 down, but still I was just thinking that I have to continue to play point-by-point.
"And I think that was the bright moment in this match. I think it's much easier to start the second set when you realize that you could win like that in the first set."
As one of the last players to qualify for Zhuhai, the 19-year old stated "after Moscow, I went back home and I thought, OK, I won't get in because [Karolina] Muchova, she was really on fire and [Anastasia] Pavlyuchenkova so I thought Pavlyuchenkova would win or Muchova gets to the final, so it was pretty tough.
"And I arrived home, I relaxed, I didn't practice for five days, and I just, I didn't know, I completely relaxed. And Sunday, late evening, I got the e-mail, Hi, we're texting you with a congratulations that you're qualifying."
She shared her thoughts on the tournament in general: "I love the tournament because it's something special and i've never been playing before. I love being here, I love the hotel, I love people, I love crowd, everything is really good, everything is very comfortable and I just enjoy being here."
Remarkably calm for such a young age, Yastremska referenced that by saying "I just don't put really pressure on myself. Yesterday after the practice, I was like, OK, I mean, i'm a little bit tight, but it's fine. I just felt, the balls felt good and I just tried to stay calm, I realized that I didn't prepare so good, so I just accepted it and I played how I played and it's kind of good.
"I mean, I also didn't expect I will play like this kind of tennis today, that I could --- I was able to play my game, but still to stay a little bit more during the point, you know to be more patient instead of boom, boom, boom, boom. I just don't really put pressure on myself."
A win over Bertens would see Yastremska reach the semifinals and she commented on the Dutchwoman: "we played together in Beijing and she's a good player, a bit uncomfortable for me, but it's OK. I'm just going to go and play. It's kind of tricky because if you win you get semis.
"If not, you stay first in the group. But again, I don't put pressure, I will go and enjoy it, because you don't play so often this kind of tournament. And I think there is no reason just to think about semis and finals, just play match by match and enjoy being here."