Qinwen Zheng booked her place in the last four of the WTA Finals with a dominant 6-1 6-1 victory over Jasmine Paolini.
The Olympic gold medallist hit 12 aces as she powered past this season's French Open and Wimbledon finalist in just over an hour in Riyadh.
This was the winner-takes-all clash in Purple Group, with both players aiming to join world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.
The form player since Wimbledon with 29 wins from 34 matches - also including titles in Palermo and Tokyo, plus a run to the final in Wuhan - Zheng quickly asserted her authority on proceedings.
The 22-year-old scored five breaks of serve on the way to becoming the youngest semi-finalist on her WTA Finals debut since Petra Kvitova in 2011.
"Finally, I showed off some tennis I really want to play," she said. "Of course, when you enter the match, you are nervous, but at the same time, you feel confidence because you know your level. And I know how capable I am.
"I remember in 2022, my serve was quite strong. I don't know why but, suddenly in 2023, my serve started to drop. In this tournament and the rest of this half-year, it is the first time I've felt like the serve is starting to come back."
Beating two top-10 players in the same tournament for the first time, Zheng is the first Chinese player to achieve the feat since Li Na (four) at this event 11 years ago.
The seventh seed also follows in the footsteps of Na and Kimiko Date in 1994 as one of three players representing an Asian country to reach the last four at the WTA Finals.
Sabalenka's place in the semi-finals was already secured, rendering her 6-4 3-6 6-1 defeat by Elena Rybakina academic, though ending a seven-match winning streak.
Having shared the two meetings this season in Brisbane and Madrid, the players took a close set each here, but it was one-way traffic in the decider.
In the final match of her first tournament since withdrawing from the US Open with a back injury, Rybakina did not face a single break point in the final set, while winning all 12 points on her first serve, to bow out with victory.
Though academic, it was an historic victory for the Kazahstani, who became the first player representing an Asian country to defeat the world number one at the WTA Finals.
Rybakina is also the fourth player to achieve six or more wins over the WTA's number one across a two-season span, after Tracy Austin (1979-80), Venus Williams (1999-00) and Lindsay Davenport (2000-01).
Head century puts Australia on front foot against India
Travis Head hit a superb century as Australia took control on day two of the second Test against India.
Head produced a knock of 140 off 141 balls at the Adelaide Oval, where the hosts finished the day with a 29-run lead.
Australia resumed at 86-1, and Marnus Labuschagne laid the foundations for their charge in response to India's 180 with a contribution of 64.
Head then took centre stage to take the hosts to 337, with Mohammed Siraj (4-98) and Jasprit Bumrah (4-61) preventing the tourists' deficit from being greater.
Australia's bowlers then came to the fore. Skipper Pat Cummins dismissed KL Rahul (seven), while Scott Boland claimed Yashasvi Jaiswal (24) and Virat Kohli (11).
Mitchell Starc, fresh from his career-best Test figures of 6-48 on day one, then took Shubman Gill (28), before Cummins removed Rohit Sharma (six) to leave India at 128-5 at stumps.
Data Debrief: Head shines on home soil
Adelaide-born Head notched his third century in just nine Test innings at the Oval.
Though fortunate to be dropped by Siraj on 76, he capitalised on the let-off to reach the ton off 111 deliveries.
Head certainly enjoys playing India, too, with exactly half of his six centuries across all formats in 2023 coming against them (three).
He has also averaged 61.9 in 19 innings against India during that time, compared to 36.8 against all other opponents.
Atkinson and Bethell star as England dominate day two against New Zealand
Gus Atkinson's hat-trick set England on their way to a dominant second day of the second Test with New Zealand in Wellington.
Atkinson took the final three wickets of Nathan Smith, Matt Henry and Tim Southee as the hosts were bowled out for 125, before the tourists' knock of 378-5 put them 533 runs to the good.
The 26-year-old scored the first away hat-trick by an England bowler in 16 years, while it was also the first ever to be recorded at the Basin Reserve.
"The hat-trick ball I was running up thinking: 'I'm getting a wicket this ball, I'm getting a wicket this ball' - I did feel it," he told BBC Sport.
"I haven't really thought about a hat-trick too much before. You want to play to get five-fors as a bowler, you don't think about hat-tricks as much, but getting a hat-trick is special, it's definitely more rare than a five-for.
"It's been a very special year. I'm just looking forward to playing as much Test cricket as I can in the next few years and, hopefully, continuing with the form."
Atkinson's surge left New Zealand 155 runs adrift of England, whose second innings was spearheaded by Jacob Bethell and Ben Duckett (92).
Between them, they added 187 for the second wicket, with Bethell (96) narrowly missing out on becoming the tourists' youngest Test centurion since 1939.
Harry Brook chipped in with 55, while Joe Root and Ben Stokes notched unbeaten contributions of 73 and 35 respectively.
That took England to 378-5 at stumps, as they closed in on their first Test series victory in New Zealand for 16 years.
Data Debrief: Hat-trick hero Atkinson joins exclusive group
Atkinson continued his incredible 2024, in which he took 12 wickets on his Test debut against West Indies in July, while notching up a century and five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka the following month.
The first hat-trick in Test cricket since South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj's against West Indies in 2021, it is the 14th recorded by an Englishman.
Atkinson also joined Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali and Johnny Briggs as the only England players to score a Test century and hat-trick.
England became the first nation to score 500,000 Test runs during day two, while Root passed 50 for the 100th time at this level.
Atalanta 2-1 Milan: Lookman late show propels hosts to Serie A summit
Atalanta climbed to the top of the Serie A table after Ademola Lookman struck late to secure a 2-1 win against Milan at the Gewiss Stadium.
Only moments after being denied a winner by Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, Lookman arrived unmarked at the far post to nod in a corner in the 87th minute to seal a hard-fought win.
With 34 points from 15 matches, Tullio Gritti's side are now two points clear of second-placed Napoli, who will play Lazio at home on Sunday.
Charles De Ketelaere scored against his former club to put Atalanta ahead in the 12th minute, rising highest to head home Marten de Roon's free-kick.
But Milan struck back 10 minutes later when Rafael Leao's cross into the box was turned home by Alvaro Morata for his fourth league goal of the season.
The second half was an evenly contested affair, with both sides creating several chances before Lookman struck the decisive blow to leave Paulo Fonseca's side seventh in the table.
Data Debrief: Atalanta's dream run continues
The win against the Rossoneri was Atalanta's ninth consecutive victory in Serie A this season, matching the club record set between February and July 2020.
They have also now scored at least two goals in each of their last 12 home games in Serie A, becoming the first team to do so after Juventus between November 2006 and January 2008.
Only Barcelona (48) have scored more than Atalanta's 38 goals in the five major European Leagues this season.
Lookman's winner was his 11th Serie A goal of the season, and he has been involved in 18 goals in his last 18 league games, also bagging seven assists.
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