British No 1 and top seed Johanna Konta overcame Samantha Stosur in straight sets to make a winning start to her WTA Elite Trophy campaign - and secure a year-end top-10 finish.
The Briton cruised past her eighth-seeded Australian opponent 6-4 6-2 in just under one hour and 20 minutes in Zhuhai, with both sets seeing Konta take a 4-0 lead after securing early double breaks.
The win means Konta is now guaranteed to finish the season in the world's top 10, with Petra Kvitova - a 6-1 6-2 winner over Roberta Vinci on Wednesday - now unable to catch her.
Top-seed Konta is in the 'Azalea' group of the competition, alongside France's Caroline Garcia, who Konta will face on Friday. The winner of each of the four groups in Zhuhai will progress to the semi-finals.
Konta, who narrowly missed out on competing at the WTA Finals last week after Svetlana Kuznetsova leapfrogged her at the last minute, has had a breakout year.
In 2016, she has reached the Australian Open semi-finals, won her maiden WTA title, and became the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1984 to make the world's top 10. She is also the first since Durie in 1983 to end the year in the top 10.
Last month, the 25-year-old's efforts were recognised by the WTA, naming the Bank of the West Classic champion the most improved player of the year.
The day's other winner at the Chinese tournament was world No 18 Timea Bacsinszky, who saw off Timea Babos 6-4 6-2 to keep her hopes of reaching the last four alive.
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