China’s Wang Qiang and Australia’s Ashleigh Barty will face each other in the final of the Hengqin Life WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai.
The 26-year-old Wang had been eliminated during the tournament’s group phase, but Madison Keys’ withdrawal shortly before the semifinals forced the Chinese to quickly switch her thoughts from vacation to tennis and she raced into the final with a dominant 6-2 6-0 victory over two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza in one hour and 11 minutes.
At 3-2 in the first set, a tense 11-minute game full of lengthy rallies saw Wang break on her third break point and the loss of that game seemed to devastate Muguruza, who finished the match with just 14 winners to Wang’s 34.