Top seed Venus Williams yesterday beat Karolina Pliskova 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) to win the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, China.
Pliskova had a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but Williams hit back-to-back forehand winners to close out the win.
“Seven weeks here in Asia and now I feel like it’s my home,” Williams said. “I’m so excited to win the first trophy in Zhuhai. All the players felt so welcome here and we appreciated all of the enthusiasm.”
With her third victory of the year, Williams returns to the top 10 for the first time in more than four years.
The tournament brought together 11 of the top players who did not qualify for the previous week’s WTA Finals in Singapore.
Williams raced out to an early 4-1 lead in the first set, but third seed Pliskova fought back to 4-4 before Williams took the first set.
Pliskova found her game in the second set and went up 4-2, but Williams got back on serve and forced the tiebreaker.
“Even if I didn’t make it today, it was a great week,” the Czech player said. “Venus played an unbelievable match today, but I’m proud of how I played this week and hopefully we’ll have more matches like this.”
Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam winner and former world No. 1, has enjoyed a return to form this year, also claiming the titles in Auckland and Wuhan.
It is the first time she has won three WTA Tour titles in a season since 2008 and the 41 matches she has won are the most in a season since winning 50 in 2007.
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