Williams was in danger of slumping to a straight-sets defeat in the Group A match between one American coming to the end of her career and another who should have her best years to come at the age of 20.
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Zheng stormed out to a 5-1 lead in the first set with a few aggressive groundstrokes.
She dropped just two more games to prevail in 78 minutes, moving to 2-0 in Group A and ensuring her spot in the final four in the process, but was quick to hail the potential of her 21-year-old opponent.
“I really appreciate the fight because she was on court all the time”, said the Spaniard, in comments released by the Women’s Tennis Association from the event in Zhuhai in southern China. Zheng was granted a wild-card berth. “She’s defending pretty well and running a lot over the baseline, so it’s tough to kill a ball against her”, Pliskova said.
Williams is guaranteed to finish top of Group A after she again came from behind to win in China. After Kuznetsova won the first set 7-5, Wozniacki quit at 2-2 in the second with a left wrist injury.
Jankovic will face an altogether different challenge on Wednesday in her second round robin fixture, against big-hitting WTA rising star Karolina Pliskova.
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The tournament brings together 11 of the top players who did not qualify for last week’s WTA Finals in Singapore, including Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic and U.S. Open finalist Roberta Vinci.
