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Elena Rybakina completed a clean sweep of her group at the WTA Finals with a straightforward victory over late call-up Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The sixth seed, who sealed her progression to the semi-finals on Monday, continued her momentum with a 6-4 6-4 win in Riyadh.
The Kazakh had been due to play Madison Keys, but the American - who could not advance - withdrew just hours before the start of the match because of illness.
Alexandrova was the second alternate, but received the nod after fellow Russian and first option Mirra Andreeva, who is also competing in the doubles in Riyadh, declared she was not fit to play.
"Ekaterina was a tough opponent, especially in the beginning it was difficult to return," said Rybakina, who beat Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek earlier in the week.
"Every match I play I want to win of course, each win gives you confidence. Hopefully I can continue."
Anisimova and Swiatek face off for the second qualification spot from the Serena Williams Group later on Wednesday.
The leading eight women's players in singles and doubles are competing in Saudi Arabia, where £12m ($15.5m) in prize money will be won.
In the Stefanie Graf Group, world number one Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula all remain in semi-final contention.
Sabalenka plays defending champion Gauff while Pegula faces the already eliminated Jasmine Paolini in Thursday's final round-robin matches.
Former Wimbledon champion Rybakina failed to progress past the fourth round at any of the Slams in 2025 but became the first to qualify for the Riyadh semis with her shock win over Swiatek on Monday - her first victory over the Polish world number two from five meetings this year.
For her opponent Alexandrova, it has been a breakthrough year and in October she became the third oldest player to debut in the top 10, at the age of 30 years and 11 months.
Before this match she had led her head-to-head with Rybakina and started impressively, but was unable to take her chances, squandering three break points before returning a forehand wide to hand the first break and a 5-4 lead to Rybakina.
The big-hitting Rybakina, sporting tape on her serving shoulder, served out the first set to love before breaking early in the second, her relentless pressure forcing Alexandrova into another error, this time off the backhand.
As Alexandrova's serve continued to falter, Rybakina stepped up a gear and she doubled her advantage with a brutal forehand winner on break point, only to immediately lose one of her breaks when serving for the match.
Her struggle to get over the finish line continued, forced to save two break points in her next service game before eventually wrapping up victory on her second match point as Alexandrova sent a backhand long.
In the doubles, 2022 champions Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens confirmed their semi-final berth with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Paolini and Sara Errani.
They join Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko in advancing from the Martina Navratilova Group.
