Former world No 1 Venus Williams scraped past Karolina Pliskova to win the WTA Elite Trophy and claim her third title of the season as she returned to the top 10 for the first time in four years.
The top seed was forced to dig deep to stave off Pliskova's challenge and emerge a 7-5 7-6 (8-6) winner.
"Seven weeks here in Asia and now I feel like it's my home," Williams told the WTA website.
"I'm so excited to win the first trophy in Zhuhai. All the players felt so welcome here and we appreciated all of the enthusiasm. To see every seat filled for every match, that's all the players and tournament could hope for."
The seven-time grand slam champion started well, racing to a 4-1 lead in the first set before Pliskova won the next three games to level scores but the American would not be denied.
The roles were reversed in the second set with Williams trailing 4-2 and by the same score in the tiebreak before she raised her game and unleashed back-to-back forehand winners to seal the contest.
For the first time since 2008, Williams won three titles - at Auckland, Wuhan and Zhuhai - in a season and the 700 points she earned helped the 35-year-old jump four places to world No 7 in the new WTA rankings.
Williams was last in the top 10 in 2011.
