H2H: Madison Keys (Usa) vs. Saisai Zheng (Chnina)

Preview and players comparison.

Zheng’s last match ended with retirement to Kudermetova at Tianjin due to an abdominal muscle injury. Regardless, she remains the underdog against the third seed. In a tournament where every match and the set is crucial, Keys is hoping to repeat the pair’s 2015 WTA Elite Trophy result (6-3, 6-2). Keys has played just a couple of tournaments in the Asian swing — a quarterfinal exit to Kerber at Osaka and a second-round defeat to Brady in Beijing. On the other hand, Zheng has played four Chinese events since the US Open (6-4), including a quarterfinal finish to Tomljanovic at Zhengzhou Premier.

Madison Keys is set to play the WTA Elite Trophy for the third time in her career. Following a round-robin exit in 2015, the American booked herself a semifinal spot in last year’s edition after beating Kasatkina in straight sets and falling to Qiang Wang in a three-setter but had to withdraw due to a left knee injury. Keys has played just 14 tournaments this year, a conscious choice given her injury-marred past seasons. She has amassed 26 wins out of them, including her fourth and fifth career title at Charleston and Cincinnati. The latter was her biggest trophy, for which she defeated five current or former top 10 players.

Saisai Zheng has been awarded a wildcard into this second-tier year-end championships after the tournament bypassed Chinese no. 1 and defending finalist Qiang Wang. It is the 25-year-old’s second such entry at Zhuhai; previously exited the group stage in 2015 following losses to Keys and V. Williams. Two months and a half ago, Zheng won her maiden career title out of the blue at San Jose, upsetting Aryna Sabalenka in the final. It snapped her eleven-match losing streak against top 20 players, which went back to May 2017. That result remains the only time she got past the quarterfinals of a WTA event in 2019.