China's ace player Zheng Qinwen opened her WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai campaign on Wednesday with a nail-biting three-set win over Donna Vekic of Croatia.
The second set saw the two players battle intensely until the tiebreak before Vekic won 7-6 (6).
Zheng suffered an early break before she broke back in the eighth game and stormed to a strong finish to win the final set 6-4.
The 21-year-old Zheng avenged her loss to the No. 10 seed Vekic in their only previous meeting in 2021.
"It took some time to find my rhythm," Zheng said after her win.
"In the second set, she was serving really well, so we couldn't break each other. I think I got a little chance at 6-6, but at that moment she played aggressive.
"In the third set, she continued serving really well, but after I started to get more rhythm on the return, I started to feel better and better in my game by playing longer. So I'm really happy to win the match in the end," she added.
Zheng won her first-ever WTA 500 title in Zhengzhou earlier this month, reaching her career-high ranking of No. 18.
Also on Wednesday, No. 6 seed Daria Kasatkina outclassed No. 1 seed Barbora Krejcikova 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, and No. 9 seed Caroline Garcia beat No. 2 seed Madison Keys 6-3, 7-6(3).
