British number one Johanna Konta boosted her chances of making the WTA Finals later this month by beating one of her rivals Carla Suarez Navarro in the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
With only the top eight players in the Road to Singapore qualifying, Konta, in 10th, cut the deficit on eighth-placed Suarez Navarro after a 7-5 7-6 (8/6) win.
That sets up a quarter-final clash with either world number one Angelique Kerber or Petra Kvitova and the chance to further gain points on the Spaniard, while also maintaining pace with ninth-placed Madison Keys, who earlier booked her last-eight spot.
It was a gritty performance from the 25-year-old, who decisively won the crucial points in the match, continually holding off her opponent's challenge in the second set.
After saving a break point at 5-5, Konta then came out and immediately broke, with some strong hitting forcing four errors from Suarez Navarro before serving it out for 7-5.
The second set was an undulating affair as, after an early exchange of breaks, Suarez Navarro took the ascendency to break to love and then hold to lead 5-3.
She put the Konta serve under even more pressure in a marathon game that went to eight deuces and saw the Brit save three set points, eventually holding on her fifth game point before coming out to break Suarez Navarro back and force a tie-break.
Suarez Navarro again assumed control in the breaker as she took a 6-3 lead before a steely Konta reeled off five successive points to take the match, matching her run to the last eight here in 2015.
Meanwhile, British number three Naomi Broady is out of the Taskent Open in Uzbekistan after a second-round loss to Irina Khromacheva.
Broady is seeded eighth and would have harboured hopes of going deep into the tournament, but she succumbed to the Russian, who won 6-2 6-4.
Source: PA
