Zheng Qinwen had her home crowd in a frenzy as she caused an upset of sorts to register a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over No.7 seed Barbora Krejcikova, to triumph at the Zhengzhou Open. This was their first meeting on the tour and it took 2 hours and 26 minutes to secure this come-from-behind win. It earned her the second WTA Title of the season as well as her career.
In the post-match interview, Zheng said, “When I was on the court finishing the last point, I was feeling super happy…”. She opined that the moment, the crowd started yelling her name and supporting her in full stead was just unexplainable. She added that though there were plenty of ups and downs, she was super happy to beat such a great opponent and would like to enjoy the victory with her team.
Hitting all the right notes this week 🎶
Qinwen Zheng | #ZhengzhouOpen pic.twitter.com/3Mx0mhbgV9
— wta (@WTA) October 15, 2023
In fact, it was the post-match ceremony that stole the show as Zheng broke into a song. Though, it had exuberance it didn’t quite go down well with the audience. Some felt, “…I am so glad she has a day job. Her singing is all over the place.” Others felt as though they were being treated to a “cringefest” and it would be better advised for her to “stick to tennis”.
Coming to the match, Krejcikova surrendered a break in her first service game of all three sets. Though she rebounded successfully to take the first, Zheng won the second without conceding a single break point on her serve. In the deciding set, Qinwen was in no mood to budge as she broke for a third time in the set to serve for the match at 5-4. Serve she did with elan, to seal the victory.
How has the season panned out for Qinwen Zheng?
Zheng, who was crowned last season’s WTA Newcomer of the Year, claimed her first title at Palermo. Later this season, the 21-year-old reached another milestone at the US Open when she made it to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, with the win over three-time Grand Slam Runner-Up, Ons Jabeur, standing out.
Qinwen Zheng says Wim Fissette has ended his partnership with her & will start coaching Naomi Osaka again:
“He broke the contract. This is very immoral. I understand his decision, but my family and I feel hurt. Right now I don’t want to talk about this person.” pic.twitter.com/TlBvMngQPe
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 29, 2023
It was then, that Qinwen had to part ways with Wim Fissette, her coach, who “broke the contract” he had with Zheng. It was under him that Zheng was able to clinch her first WTA title. The 21-year-old was completely broken by the decision of Wim and continued that it was “immoral” on his part to do so. But, Zheng was magnanimous enough to say that,“…it is his choice and I completely respect that.”
It was after his departure, that the Asian swing started and it is only fair to say that, Qinwen Zheng has managed it quite well. She won a Gold for her country at the Asian Games and the success at Zhengzhou has reiterated that it didn’t come as a fluke.
The win at Zhengzhou means that Qinwen has become the third Chinese woman to secure a WTA 500 title or higher, along with two-time Grand Slam Champion Li Na and Zheng Saisai. The victory also bears significance due to the fact that this is the first time three Chinese women have gone on to claim a singles title in the same season; Zhu Lin and Wang Xiyu being the other two.