The National Times - Olympic champion Zheng moves into last four of WTA Finals

Picking up a 30th win from her last 35 matches, the Chinese Olympic gold medallist swept past the fourth-seeded Paolini 6-1, 6-1 in a mere 67 minutes.

In the last day of round-robin action in the Purple Group, Zheng and Paolini were fighting for the second qualification spot behind Aryna Sabalenka, who had already secured her semi-final place on Monday.

With one defeat against Sabalenka and one victory over Elena Rybakina in her opening matches this week in Riyadh, the seventh-seeded Zheng locked down her spot in the final four with a dominating performance against Paolini.

It made the 22-year-old the first Chinese player since Li Na in 2013 to make it out of the group stage at the WTA Finals.

"It was 11 years ago, I'm really proud I could make it. I didn't know what to expect coming to these WTA Finals for the first time. I was in a very difficult group," said Zheng.

"It's one of the best performances I had during this year, really good percentage of first serves, I felt really good on my groundstrokes and I made a couple of good volleys, I really enjoyed it."

An aggressive return earned Zheng her first break of the match in game three and the seventh seed doubled her advantage to go up 5-1.

Paolini, who was also a finalist at the French Open this year, saved a set point on her own serve in game seven but Zheng kept her foot on the pedal and closed out the set on her second opportunity.

The second set was just as impressive from Zheng and after saving a break point while serving for the match at 5-1, she wrapped up the encounter with her 12th ace of the match.

It was Zheng’s fourth victory in as many meetings with Paolini, who won't leave Riyadh just yet as she continues to fight for a semi-final spot in doubles alongside fellow Italian Sara Errani.

E.Cox--TNT