No. 6 seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia upended No. 1 Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 7–5, 1–6, 6–1 in group play Wednesday at the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, China.
The two-hour, 10-minute victory was Kasatkina’s opening match in the Azalea Group, one of four three-player groups competing in the round-robin event. Kasatkina can reach the semifinals with a win on Thursday against No. 11 seed Magda Linette of Poland.
No. 9 Caroline Garcia of France knocked out No. 2 Madison Keys in the Camellia Group with a 6–3, 7–6 (3) triumph, snapping a four-match losing streak to the American. Keys fired 12 aces, but Garcia saved both break points she faced.
No. 7 Qinwen Zheng of China began play in the Orchid Group with a 6–4, 6–7 (6), 6–4 win over No. 10 Donna Vekic of Croatia in nearly three hours.
