America's Coco Vandeweghe beat her Chinese wild card opponent on the first day of the WTA Elite Trophy on Tuesday, bringing her a step closer to a semi-final berth. The second seed, making her debut at the season-ending tournament, downed China's number one player Peng Shuai 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 55 minutes at the Zhuhai Hengqin International Tennis Centre. The 25-year-old had previously won only one match in her past four tournaments on Chinese soil.
She admitted starting off "sloppy" against Peng - the oldest player in the tournament and ranked 27 in the world. "Today was a survive and conquer kind of day, I really was playing not so well, very below average for the standard that I'm used to playing," she told journalists after the match.