Qinwen Zheng produced a stellar performance in front of the home fans to beat sixth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the quarterfinal of the China Open WTA tournament 6-3, 7-6(6) in Beijing
BEIJING — Qinwen Zheng produced a stellar performance in front of the home fans to beat sixth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in the quarterfinal of the China Open WTA tournament 6-3, 7-6(6) in Beijing on Friday.
Zheng, who celebrated her 24th birthday on Thursday, defeated Svitolina after breaking her four times in a one-hour-and-47-minute battle.
This is now her second China Open semifinal and her first WTA 1000 semifinal this year. She had reached the last-four stage in Beijing in 2024 too, where she suffered a loss to Karolína Muchova.
Zheng has her second top-10 win of the season, having previously beaten Iga Swiatek in the US Open Round of 16. She will now hunt for her first Masters 1000-level title, having won two WTA 250, two WTA 500 and an Olympic gold previously.
Coming to the match, wildcard Zheng broke her opponent three times in the first set. She opened the match with a break, followed by another in the seventh game. However, Svitolina kept things alive momentarily when she broke the Chinese in the ninth game when Zheng was serving for the set at 5-3. However, the recently-turned 24-year-old broke back again to bag the first set 6-3.
Both players kept holding their serves until the Ukrainian broke Zheng in the seventh game of the second set to move ahead 4-3. However, the Chinese broke back soon to level things at 4-4, after which the two players held their serves for the set to enter the tie-break.
Zheng was trailing 0-2 in the tie-break but won the next four points for a 4-2 lead before things were levelled at 6-6 again. However, Zheng clinched the match on her second match point at 8-6 to close the set and the match.
"She performed excellently in the second set. That tie-break was really so close. Both of us played at a really high level. Honestly speaking, I really wanted to win this match, so I felt nervous when I hit the balls," Zheng said after the win, as quoted by Xinhua.
Meanwhile, she hoped that turning 24 would make her more mature. "I hope at 24 I can become more mature, and stay calm facing every single point on court. That is my own expectation for myself," she said.