Johanna Konta guaranteed she will finish the season in the top 10 after beating Samantha Stosur in her opening match at the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai.
The British number one has had an outstanding year and narrowly missed out on qualifying for last week's WTA Finals in Singapore.
She would very likely have made it had she not been sidelined by an abdominal injury but there were no signs of any physical problems as she brushed aside Australian Stosur 6-4 6-2.
Konta opened up 4-0 leads in both sets, and victory over Caroline Garcia on Friday would send the top seed through to the semi-finals.
The 25-year-old will become the first British woman to finish a season ranked inside the top 10 since Jo Durie in 1983.
Petra Kvitova continued her fine run of form by thumping Roberta Vinci 6-1 6-2 in just 47 minutes.
The two-time Wimbledon champion has won 19 of her last 24 matches and will qualify for the last four if she beats Barbora Strycova on Friday.
Timea Bacsinszky kept alive her hopes of reaching the semi-finals, bouncing back from defeat by Zhang Shuai in her opening group match by beating Timea Babos 6-4 6-2.
Source: PA
