Johanna Konta boosted her chances of making the WTA Finals later this month by beating Carla Suarez Navarro in the Wuhan Open.
Only the top eight players in the Road to Singapore qualify and the British No 1, currently in 10th spot, cut the deficit on eighth-placed Suarez Navarro after the 7-5 7-6 win in China.
That sets up a quarter-final clash with either world No 1 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 and continually held off Suarez Navarro'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 her opponent before serving it out for 7-5.
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After an early exchange of breaks in the second set, Suarez Navarro took the ascendancy to break to love and then held 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.
The Spaniard 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 win, matching her run to the last eight here in 2015.
Meanwhile, British No 3 Naomi Broady crashed out of the Taskent Open in Uzbekistan after a second-round loss to Irina Khromacheva. Broady, who was seeded eighth, succumbed to the Russian who won 6-2 6-4.
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