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In her first appearance at the prestigious year-end event, the 22-year-old from China will now play Coco Gauff in the final after the American upset world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets in the other semi-final clash. 

No.7-seed Zheng has won 31 of 36 matches since Wimbledon and has been the form player WTA Tour players since then.

“I feel everything is real,” she said. “I know after Wimbledon I had a big struggle. I did not perform well at Roland Garros. I did not perform well at Wimbledon. I think everything’s for a reason.

"After that, even though I was the Olympic champion, I tried to keep my mentality stable, don’t get relaxed. Seems like it’s working. I still keep the motivations pretty high.”

Zheng is the youngest player to reach the semi-finals in her first WTA Finals since current tournament director Garbine Muguruza in 2015, and after beating Krejcikova is now the youngest to reach the final in a first appearance since Petra Kvitova in 2011.

Zheng has also now beaten multiple grand slam winners at a single event for the second time after defeating Krejcikova and Elena Rybakina.

With a win-loss record of 52-17 this year, she is also the first Chinese player in the Open era to claim 50 WTA Tour victories in a calendar year, and only the second Asian player to reach the singles final at the WTA Finals after Chinese legend Li Na in 2013.