Zheng Qinwen, last year’s Australian Open finalist, was stunned by world No. 97 Laura Siegemund in this year’s competition, making her the highest-ranking athlete who dropped this early in this year’s tournament.
Zheng lost to the 36-year-old German athlete with final scores of 7-6 (3), 6-3. This was only the third time in her career that Siegemund advanced to the third round in Australia.
Zheng confessed: “Not much to say because I tried to do what I can during this match, but I feel maybe today is not my day… There are a lot of details on the important points that I didn’t make the right choice.”
She added: “I had a lot of chances to break her in the first set, but in that moment, maybe my concentration wasn’t there, I always made an easy mistake in those moments.”
Heated argument during the match
During the match, Zheng, who also won gold in women’s singles at the Paris Olympics, was given time violations twice as she was getting ready to serve. The umpire kept telling her that she should look at the clock before she started preparing to serve. However, Zheng said that she could not see the clock from where she was serving and had a contentious argument with the umpire.
Zheng stated: “From my angle, the time was on the side, so I couldn’t see if I bounced the ball, I couldn’t catch the time, so I didn’t know if I was late or early… I was so surprised to get that second serve (after the violation), it’s never happened to me before.”
“That one really distracted me from the match. It’s the first time I’ve had this situation with a time violation. This is my fourth year on the tour and it had never happened to me,” she admitted.
While an already qualified Aryna Sabalenka lost to Elena Rybakina, Zheng Qinwen embraced victory as she defeated Jasmine Paolini to advance to the WTA Finals last four.
Zheng, the Olympic gold champion from China, defeated Paolini of Italy 6-1, 6-1 without much difficulty. Over the course of the 67-minute match, Zheng struck 12 aces and 24 wins, and Paolini was unable to match her powerful plays.
After her victory, the athlete said: “I didn’t know what would happen when I came here… I just told myself to enjoy it, especially because I am in a really difficult group.”
She added: “Finally, I showed off some tennis I really want to play… You are nervous but at the same time you feel confidence because you know your level – and I know how capable I am.”
In a social media post, Zheng stated: “Happy to be Semi final in @wtafinalsriyadh for my first time. Keep going，always fighting. 🎾”
Making history, Zheng is the second Chinese woman to get to the tournament’s semi-finals, after the renowned Li Na in 2013.
Meanwhile, in a thrilling match, Sabalenka lost to Rybakina 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Sabalenka recently secured the year-end world number one ranking.
The US Open and Australian winner collapsed in the final set, dropping five straight games as Rybakina delivered a superb win.
Despite Sabalenka’s dominance on the women’s tour, especially on hard courts, Rybakina is one of the few players who can challenge her because of the athlete’s powerful forehand and enormous serves.
The world No. 1 seed and Polish player Iga Swiatek lost to Qinwen Zheng of China in the semi-finals of the Olympic tennis competition, causing a major upset in the women’s singles category.
The four-time French Open champion lost 6-2 7-5 in straight sets. It was a shock defeat for Swiatek, who had become a force to reckon with at Roland Garros, where she has won four French Open titles, including the last three consecutively.
With her win against the world No. 1, Zheng admitted: “It’s truly indescribable how thrilled I am right now… I defeated the world No. 1, the player who has been the reigning champion at Roland Garros for years…. This journey has not been easy. Additionally, having played over six hours on court in the past few days and spending around eight hours on court within three days, I felt like I was driven by sheer determination.”
She added: “I know that in a regular women’s match, my stamina might have run out after such extended play. But for some reason, today, my energy levels remained high throughout. I was certain that, even if the match went into the third set, I would fight until the last breath … Even if I had to play for another three hours for my country, I felt I could manage it. Beating the world No. 1 at the Olympic stage means a lot to me.”
Highlights of the match
Zheng surged to a commanding first-set victory, but Swiatek was poised to force a decisive tiebreaker after a furious second set. Zheng, however, overcame a 0–4 deficit to win the match and sent the champion to the bronze medal round.
In the gold medal match, Zheng will play either Donna Vekić of Croatia or Anna Karolína Schmiedlová of Slovakia. Prior to this match, the Chinese star’s record against Swiatek was 0–6.
Up until now, Swiatek had gone undefeated in the tournament, dropping just one set in her four bouts. The Pole had been playing with a lighthearted confidence in her initial matches of the tournament at home on clay, but Danielle Collins pushed her to a tiebreaker before the American retired.
However, Zheng had previously caused Swiatek problems on this court. The current world No. 7 defeated the champion in the opening set of 2022, and Swiatek later recovered to defeat the WTA Tour rookie.
Since 2021, this is Swiatek’s first defeat at Roland Garros.
One X user noted that it was totally a surprise for everyone since they thought that Zheng was a relatively reserved person, saying, “This might have been the most unexpected and also endearing way to celebrate. She seems like kind of a shy and quiet person, at least on the court. But she sang her heart out in front of a big audience. Thats took guts. Congrats!!!”
Zheng was in a dark moment
While another one noted, “Ah bless her. 🙌 she is happier now after her dark moments when Wim Fissette left her to coach Naomi Osaka. You go girl 👏”
Not even a month after her gold-winning performance at the Asian Games this year, Zheng managed to secure her second professional title in the form of a thrilling WTA Zhengzhou final. In the highly-anticipated match-up, Zheng defeated the 7th-seeded with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win, demonstrating her unwavering tenacity and excellence in the sport of tennis.
Zheng’s WTA 500 triumph propelled her into the top 20 of the world rankings for the first time in her career, according to tennisuptodate. Zheng currently occupies the 19th position.
At the award ceremony, Zheng expressed her gratitude for the support that she received from the crowd and her team.
“That was such a special experience, to win my 1st 500 in China. Especially in Zhengzhou. I want to thank the crowd for supporting me tonight. It was an amazing atmosphere. Thanks to my team. I can’t do it without all of you. You guys really support me in the tough moments.” ❤️
This year has been a great one for Zheng, as she has won her maiden WTA singles title at the Palermo Ladies Open, reached the quarterfinals of the US Open, won the gold medal at the Asian Games, and now she has added one more to her list of accomplishments by winning her maiden WTA 500 championship.
Olympic debutante 21-year-old Zheng Qinwen, became the first Chinese player to win an Olympic tennis singles gold medal when she defeated Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in a thrilling final in Paris on Saturday (August 3).
She won’t be the last Chinese Olympic tennis champion, asserted China’s Xinhua News Agency in a burst of patriotic pride.
Praising the young tennis player, Xinhua said: “At 21, the gold could perhaps be the first of many medals for her at the Olympics, or it could be her last. However, one thing is for sure: the gold, and the inspiration that it will provide to young girls and boys back in her homeland, won’t be the last for China.”
Zheng’s victory completed a memorable week for China after Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen claimed the silver medal in the mixed doubles in tennis on Friday.
Though a new face in the Summer Games, Zheng had already proved her mettle. She was a finalist in the 2024 Australian Open, where she lost to the defending Aryna Sabalenka.
In the Paris Olympic final, she seemed the stronger contender. Zheng is the world No 7, her opponent Donna Vekic, 28, is No. 21.
Zheng also caused the biggest upset in the tournament beating the favourite and world No 1 Iga Swiatek In the semi-finals.
Moreover, she had the crowd behind her. A large Chinese contingent inside Roland Garros’s Court Philippe Chatrier cheered her on.
Vekic also had a good run. She advanced to the semi-finals at Wimbledon before competing in the Paris Olympics, where she defeated the US Open champion Coco Gauff.
Zheng, however, got the better of Vekic, defeating her in straight sets with the same powerful serves and groundstrokes she used to eliminate Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals.
Serving for the match at 5-3, Zheng reached match points as Vekic drove a backhand wide. Zheng finished the match with a well-placed forehand winner before falling to her back with joy.
Poland’s Swiatek finished with the bronze medal after beating Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2, 6-1 on Friday. She snapped a selfie with Zheng and Vekic during the medal ceremony.
“To win a medal for Croatia was a lifelong dream,” the 28-year-old said. “I wanted gold but still so happy and so proud. She was better than me today and deserved it.”
China’s only other Olympic gold medal in tennis came in 2004 when Li Ting and Sun Tian-Tian won the women’s doubles in Athens.
Zheng’s aspirations
Zheng said she wanted to be a role model. “I always want to become one of the Asians that can inspire young kids and make them love tennis more, because tennis is such a great sport, especially for girls. You need to fight. You need to have strength. You need to be fast,” said Zheng, who signed several autographs for members of the crowd after the match. “After this gold medal, I feel, finally, I can play tennis more relaxed.”
She still has to match her idol, though. Zheng looks up to Li Na, the only Chinese player to win Grand Slam singles titles — at the 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open .
“I have always been jealous of history-makers like Li Na,” Zheng said. “No matter what, she’s always the first, because she’s the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam. And I now become the first Asian player to win Olympic gold. I made history, as well. However, I still have a long way to go, because winning a Grand Slam is always my dream.”
She also spoke about her parents, who introduced her to tennis when she was seven years old. Her mother left her her job when she was 12 to make sure she ate and slept properly. Her father always pushed her hard, making her practise even on the Chinese New Year, when “everybody rests. But me? There’s no day of rest.”
“My success is not only my success. A lot of that is coming from my parents,” Zheng said. “They teach me how to be disciplined. They teach me how to stay focused on your dream. They always believed in me.”
“This Olympic journey has not been easy,” she said. “But there is a strength holding me. I never give up.”
Zheng said, “I felt like I represented all of Chinese tennis, knowing the Chinese people were cheering for me. Winning the gold made all the hard work and struggles worthwhile,” reported Xinhua.
Aryna Sabalenka wins the Wuhan Open for the third time in a row
After a fierce battle, Aryna Sabalenka defeated Zheng Qinwen to win her straight Wuhan Open title.
The world no. 2 took over home favourite Zheng 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. With this win, she achieved her second WTA 1000 title of the season and the seventh of her career. Moreover, Sabalenka is the first player to win the Wuhan Open three times in a row, and she extends her undefeated run at the competition to 17-0, also improving to 4-0 in her matches against Zheng.
Salabenka said: “I felt like I just lost a little bit of focus and I let her come back in the match… I got a little bit frustrated there. It became a three-set match. Balls are getting heavier, it’s the third set, a bit emotional.”
The athlete has now won four titles in the 2024 season, including the Australian Open and US Open. Five of her 17 career titles have come in China, also an Open Era record according to WTA.
In a social media post, Sabalenka wrote: “Third time’s the charm! 😉🏆 Thank you @wuhanopenwta for all of the love and support during this past week 🫶”
Zheng, a gold medallist at Paris 2024, was aiming to be the second Chinese player to win a WTA 1000 event, after Li Na’s victory in Cincinnati in 2012.
She is the first Chinese woman to ever advance to a WTA 1000 final in her home country. She feels encouraged because she won a set against Sabalenka for the first time, even though she lost.
Zheng admitted: “She forced me to see some of the weaknesses in my tactics… I really look forward to training. I look forward to the next match against her.”
She added: “After this loss, I’m feeling excited because I am doing better each time. There’s more room for improvement. I hope that I can close the gap and also can overcome this challenge.”
Zheng moves up to world no. 7 because she reached the Wuhan final. The top seven players will automatically advance to the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
