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WUHAN, China – Petra Kvitova produced a ruthless performance to power past No.4 seed Simona Halep and into a second Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open final.

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In stark contrast to Dominika Cibulkova, the winner of Friday’s first semifinal, Kvitova kept her time on court to a minimum, requiring only 67 minutes to wrap up a 6-1, 6-2 victory and move within touching distance of reclaiming the title she won in 2014.

“It’s amazing. I came to this tournament and really didn’t expect this kind of performance,” Kvitova said. “Physically I’m still so-so – I’m really happy that I’m not falling apart. But I played a really great match today in spite of everything, which really put the pressure on her.”

On her day, there are few on tour capable of living with Kvitova. Unfortunately, this campaign those days have been few and far between. Struggling with form and fitness, it was not until the Olympics that the Czech showed her true colors, losing a thrilling semifinal against Monica Puig.

She would walk away with bronze, and although the color of medal was not what she had wished, the achievement alleviated the pressure weighing heavily on her shoulders. “The Olympics is just one in four years. For me the Olympic Games are very important. I grew up in a family where we were always watching the Olympics, so it’s something special.

“Everything I did from the off-season to Rio, I was just going for the medal. I think that’s helped me a lot with everything. The pressure was better afterwards.”

At the US Open, Kvitova reached the fourth round, falling to eventual champion Angelique Kerber, and the return to Asia has seen her level rise further. Kvitova’s unforced error count is usually an accurate gauge of how she is feeling and against Halep she was particularly stingy. In the end, she finished with only 16, while rattling off 34 winners – many of them spectacular.

Ruthless @Petra_Kvitova powers past #Halep 6-1, 6-2 to reach her 1st 2016 final at Wuhan Open, maintaining late WTA Finals charge pic.twitter.com/SX1otJBDF4

— Xinhua Sports (@XHSports) 30 September 2016

The tone was set early on, Halep finding herself marooned several meters behind the baseline. From here she failed to track down a drop shot to slip 0-30 down in her opening service game. Kvitova bludgeoned another winner to bring up three break points, converting when she outmaneuvered the Romanian once more.

Halep had the chance to restore parity the following game, only to flash a forehand into the tape. The match was quickly slipping away in a blur of southpaw winners, Kvitova winning 18 of the next 19 points to take the set. The second set was almost as one-sided, and only a spirited rearguard effort from Halep in the final few games extended the contest beyond the hour mark. 

Remarkably given her form, the win takes Kvitova through to her first final of 2016. And another against Cibulkova will continue her improbable late push for a spot at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

“I never have any expectations. I really love to play these big matches, in front of the crowd. Of course I will do my best tomorrow,” Kvitova added. “I think she’s improved a lot, so it will be a difficult match and I will fight again.”

Dominika Cibulkova’s journey back from last year’s Achilles surgery has been far from straightforward. However, over the past six months the Slovak has completed the rehabilitation with a sequence of results that have returned her to the Top 10.

In Katowice this March she returned to the winner’s circle, which she followed  up by reaching a maiden Premier Mandatory final, in Madrid, and then further silverware, this time on the Eastbourne grass. Her latest run, to the final of last week’s Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open took Cibulkova’s 2016 win tally now stands at 44 – a number only bettered by World No.1 Angelique Kerber.

Strangely, given her assured play all week, Cibulkova had never previously won a match in Wuhan. But roused by an engaged crowd, the 27-year-old reeled off five in six days to come within touching distance of her first Premier 5 title and break new ground in the rankings.

The brilliance of her final opponent, Petra Kvitova – whose revival took her up to No.11 – ensured there was no silverware at the end of the week, but she was unable to stop Cibulkova from reaching a career-high No.8.

And she is not the only player on the rise:

Svetlana Kuznetsova (+3, No.10 to No.7): Cibulkova’s semifinal victim Kuznetsova continued her resurgence to consolidate her Top 10 status and reach her loftiest perch since June 2010. 

Louisa Chirico (+11, No.74 to No.63): Although Chirico was handily beaten by contemporary Daria Kasatkina in the Wuhan second round, by coming through qualifying she begins the week at her highest ranking to date.

Kristyna Pliskova (+34, No.100 to No.66): Last week’s other title winner, Pliskova, did it the hard way coming through an opening test against Sara Sorribes Tormo, then winning a rollercoaster final with Nao Hibino. This ended a wait to join sister Karolina as a WTA title winner and also brought a new career-high ranking.

BEIJING, CHINA – No.19 Elina Svitolina scored her second win over a reigning World No.1, beating Angelique Kerber 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals of the China Open. She’ll play Daria Gavrilova for a spot in the semifinals.

Three takeaways from Svitolina’s solid win:

1. Mental focus was the key to Svitolina’s win.

Svitolina is a fiery player and she’s never been shy about wearing her emotions for all to see. The frustration can mount quickly for the 22-year-old, but she’s slowly learning to let go. That could be the key to unlocking another level in her game.

“Today was a good win for me,” Svitolina told reporters. “The way I played was really good. I was going for my shots, sometimes just staying with the ball, not missing in important moments.

“I think I’m moving in a good way. Playing against top players, this is the main goal. I try to really stay on their level and then get better.”

Just two months ago, Svitolina knocked out then No.1 Serena Williams from the Olympic tennis event. Now she avenged her Montreal loss to Kerber to score another win over a No.1. Svitolina’s young career continues to have its ups and downs but she remains a frustrating player to face because at her best, she isn’t going to give you free points. You have to earn every single one, and when you’re not at your best that can prove very difficult.

“The main thing is to just stay in the moment, to think about the plan, about the match, what is my next step, next action,” Svitolina said. “So I try to really don’t think about [playing a No.1]. If I think too much, I lose my way.

“Of course, Angelique or Serena, they’re not letting you play your game. If you’re out for even two, three seconds, they just going to do winners. They are there all the time. They’re not letting you go.”

Kerber had a break lead in both sets but she would finish just 2 for 11 on break points in the match. On the key points, Svitolina stood tall, worked her defense in and out of the corners, and made Kerber hit the extra ball. In Montreal, Svitolina grew easily frustrated when Kerber’s counter-punching skills resulted in impossible gets. On Thursday, Svitolina shrugged them off and got back to work.

“The main thing was just mentally to be focused,” Svitolina said. “Even if you play a good point against her, she can play some amazing shot back. Still you need to be, Next point, don’t eat yourself from inside. This is really important when you play against her because sometimes she gets some balls which is, like, unbelievable, playing amazing shots from down the line.”

Svitolina’s run in Beijing puts her in solid position to qualify for the WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai at the end of the season. Svitolina played the inaugural event last season and she’s looking forward to returning.

“The atmosphere is great there,” she said. “It’s like the second after Singapore. So there’s always motivation. Just 12 players there. It’s really special to play there. It’s still a big, big tournament. It’s really special for me.”

Angelique Kerber: “It was a tough match. I had my chances, for sure, but I didn't take it.” #ChinaOpen pic.twitter.com/IUVdHWfCQx

— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) October 6, 2016

2. Kerber’s China swing bore little fruit.

After winning her second major title at the US Open and rising to World No.1 for the first time in her career, Kerber’s run through China was a frustrating one, bowing out in the third round at both the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open and the China Open. That’s not the consolidating run the German was looking for, especially as she was trying to lock up the Year-End No.1 ranking before the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

The good news for Kerber is there was no pattern through both losses. She had the bad luck of running into an on-fire Petra Kvitova in Wuhan and the two played a grueling, high-quality match that may go down as the match of the WTA season. She was the only player to take a set off Kvitova last week and she walked away with her head held high.

The loss to Svitolina was far more worrisome, though much of Kerber’s erratic play could be chalked up to the right leg injury she carried into the match. She refused to use the injury as an excuse for her loss and said she did not believe the injury to be serious, but it was evident she was unable to play her physical, counter-punching game against Svitolina. The Ukrainian played her solid game-style perfectly and forced Kerber to go for too much to terminate points. On this day the World No.1 missed more than she made.

“I think it was up-and-down match,” Kerber said. “I played a few games really good and then I did a lot of easy mistakes. She was moving good. She brings a lot of balls back. I think that was the key, why she beat me at the end.”

3. Kerber’s pre-Singapore dilemma.

Kerber is currently entered as the top seed in the Hong Kong Open next week. On one hand, playing the event would give her a chance to earn points towards the year-end No.1 ranking and a good run there could boost her confidence heading into Singapore.

On the other hand, the most important thing for Kerber is to play the WTA Finals healthy. She has come into the event sputtering in the past, having exhausted herself with last minute pushes to qualify, and she has never qualified out of the round robin stage of the event. With so much on the line in Singapore, it’s a tough choice for Kerber.

“It’s right after the match, so I don’t know exactly with my leg or whatever,” Kerber said when asked if she would play Hong Kong. “But it’s still in my schedule.”

Photos courtesy of Getty Images

BEIJING, China – Shortly after midnight Agnieszka Radwanska looked alert as ever as she secured the last semifinal spot at the China Open with an impressive win over Yaroslava Shvedova.

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Radwanska, the 2011 champion, produced two sets of near-flawless tennis to wrap up a 6-1, 6-2 victory and a book a meeting with Elina Svitolina.

.@ARadwanska through in the straightest of straight sets into @ChinaOpen SF pic.twitter.com/WCsJ4JXdC5

— TennisTV (@TennisTV) October 7, 2016

Shvedova, who defeated Alizé Cornet in their rain-delayed third-round encounter earlier in the day, made a bright enough start, capitalizing on a couple of errors from Radwanska to claim an early break. However, from this point on it was one-way traffic, the Pole soaking up Shvedova’s best blows to race through the rest of the set.

Radwanska’s defense was equally watertight in the second set – she would finish with just nine unforced errors – rattling off the final four games to take her place in a fifth semifinal in the Chinese capital.

Svitolina’s progress was not quite so straightforward, recovering from a slow start to defeat Daria Gavrilova. Having overturned an early deficit, Svitolina experienced an almighty struggle to close out the opening set. In the end she required seven set points, going on to close out a 7-6(3), 6-1 winner after an hour and 45 minutes.