Caroline Garcia beat Madison Keys 6-3 7-6 (7-3). Keys dropped to 0-2 in the Camelia Group of the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai and becomes the first player to be eliminated from this tournament.
Garcia has scored her first win over Keys since 2014, breaking a four-match losing streak. The French player has claimed her first top 20 win of the season.
Garcia converted her third break point in the second game and held on her next service games to seal the first set 6-3. Both players held on their service games en route to the tie-break. Garcia earned two mini-breaks to win the mini-break 7-3.
Garcia will take on Beatriz Haddad Maia in the next match. The winner will advance to the semifinal as the group winner.
Number 6 seed Daria Kasatkina edged past Barbora Krejcikova 7-5 1-6 6-1 in 2 hours and 10 minutes in the Azalea Group.
All three players in the group can still reach the semifinals. Kasatkina can secure her spot in the semifinals by beating Linette on Thursday. The semifinal spot will be decided by sets or games, if Linette wins this match.
Kasatkina hit 16 winners to 19 unforced errors, while Krejcikova committed 43 unforced errors to 35 winners.
Krejcikova opened up a 4-1 lead with a break in the second game. Kasatkina won six of the next seven games to clinch the first set 7-5. Krejcikova reeled off six of the next seven games with two breaks of serve to claim the second set 6-1 forcing the match to the third set.
Kasatkina came back by winning six of the next seven games with two breaks of serve to clinch the decider 6-1.
