Top seed Johanna Konta needed only an hour to beat Caroline Garcia and set up a semi-final against Elina Svitolina in the WTA Elite Trophy on Friday.

Konta came tantalisingly close to making her debut in the WTA Finals last month, but can still finish the best season of her career on a high note after seeing off Garcia 6-2 6-2 in Zhuhai.

The Brit knocked Garcia out of the Olympics in straight sets and brushed aside the 11th seed from France in quick time to move into the last four.

Konta, guaranteed to end the year in the top 10, broke twice in each set and won 85 per cent of points on her first serve in a one-sided Azalea Group match.

"I really felt I played a very consistent match. I didn't give her many windows [of opportunity] and I'm very happy I managed to do that today," Konta said in an on-court interview.

"She has such a big game so I really needed to apply myself on every point. Right now, it's just one more match tomorrow. I'm not looking any further than that. I'm going to have a very tough one and looking to compete as best I can."

Petra Kvitova also breezed into the semi-finals by getting the better of fellow Czech Barbora Strycova 6-1 6-4 in the Peony Group.

The third seed served seven aces and did not allow Strycova a single break to set up an encounter with Zhang Shuai. Elena Vesnina beat Kiki Bertens 6-4 7-6 (7-5) in the final round-robin match of the tournament.