Ashleigh Barty clinches pole position in Shenzhen
World number one Ashleigh Barty clinched pole position in the Red Group after defeating Petra Kvitova in straight-sets at the WTA Finals in China on Thursday.
The French Open champion stormed into the semi-finals with a crushing 6-4, 6-2 win in one hour and 28 minutes at the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre.
The result knocked out the winless Czech from the round-robin tournament.
Belinda Bencic and Kiki Bertens clash in the later match with the winner joining Barty out of the Red Group.
Barty, who had already sealed the year-end No.1 ranking, rebounded after a three-set loss to late replacement Bertens on Tuesday.
"I felt like I executed really well," she said after the match.
"I knew I had to play aggressively. I'm really excited to still have another chance to play here."
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