Chinese wildcard Zhang Shuai has continued her winning start to the Elite Trophy with a 7-6(4), 6-2, win over Timea Babos.
Facing a player ranked only three places above her in the rankings, Shuai had to come from behind in both sets against her Hungarian rival. Trailing 1-4 at the start of the match, the world No.28 rallied back to level 4-4 before sealing the opening set in exactly an hour. It was a similar story in the second set with the Chinese player recovering from a 1-3 deficit by breaking two consecutive times to seal the match.
During the match, Shuai expressed her unhappiness with the crowd at the venue. During one point, her service motion was halted due to members of the crowd moving about in the stadium. The incident resulted in the home player criticising the crowd.
“You sit down, or you go out. How can you not understand the rules?” She said according to Sina.com.cn.
Regardless of her displeasure, Shuai has qualified for the semifinals of the tournament after also defeating Timea Bacsinszky earlier in the week. Topping the Camellia group, the wildcard is yet to drop a set in the tournament.
Caroline Garcia began her campaign in the Azalea Group with a 6-4, 6-3, win over former US Open champion Sam Stosur. The French 11th seed endured a slow start to the match as she went behind 1-4. Despite the troublesome start, Garcia worked her way back into the match with the help of some lacklustre play from Stosur, who could only win 48% of her service points in the entire match. It was a familiar pattern of play in the second set as the 11th seed sealed the win after an hour and 25 minutes.
“I had to play my best (against Stosur).” Said Garcia during her on court interview. “It was not easy to start (the tournament) on Thursday. Some players are already in, some are already out and me, I’ve just started playing.”
“I think I played a good match and that is what I need to do if I want to continue.”
Next for Garcia will be a showdown with top seed Johanna Konta on Thursday, who also beat Stosur earlier in the week. The 23-year-old will be hoping to get revenge against the Brit after losing to her at this year’s Olympic Games in Rio.
“She is a great player, she is in the top ten. Last time I played her, I lost in straight sets and didn’t win a lot of games. So I have my revenge to take, but it is going to be really hard.” She said about playing Konta.
Regardless of the outcome of tomorrow’s match, Konta will still end the season in the world’s top 10 for the first time in her career.
