Wildcard Qinwen Zheng produced a stellar performance in front of her home fans in Beijing on Friday, beating sixth seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6(6) in the quarterfinal of the China Open WTA tournament to reach her second semifinal at the event.
Zheng, who celebrated her 24th birthday on Thursday, defeated Svitolina in a one-hour-and-47-minute battle, breaking the Ukrainian four times. It is her first WTA 1000 semifinal this year — she last reached the last-four stage in Beijing in 2024 — and her second top-10 win of the season after beating Iga Swiatek in the US Open round of 16.
How the match unfolded
Zheng opened the match with a break and added another in the seventh game, though Svitolina briefly kept things alive by breaking back when Zheng served for the set at 5-3. The Chinese player broke again to seal the first set 6-3.
The second set stayed on serve until Svitolina broke in the seventh game to move ahead 4-3. Zheng broke back to level at 4-4 and forced a tie-break, where she trailed 0-2 before winning the next four points. The tie-break was level at 6-6 before Zheng closed it out on her second match point, 8-6.
Zheng is now hunting for her first Masters 1000-level title, having won two WTA 250 and two WTA 500 titles along with an Olympic gold medal. Earlier in the tournament, she had survived a three-set scare against Alina Charaeva in the round of 16.
Sources:
- hi INDiA: Tennis — Qinwen Zheng stuns Svitolina to march into China Open semifinals (IANS)
- Outlook India: China Open 2026 tennis coverage
Zheng, who celebrated her 24th birthday on Thursday, defeated Svitolina in a one-hour-and-47-minute battle, breaking the Ukrainian four times. It is her first WTA 1000 semifinal this year — she last reached the last-four stage in Beijing in 2024 — and her second top-10 win of the season after beating Iga Swiatek in the US Open round of 16.
How the match unfolded
Zheng opened the match with a break and added another in the seventh game, though Svitolina briefly kept things alive by breaking back when Zheng served for the set at 5-3. The Chinese player broke again to seal the first set 6-3.
The second set stayed on serve until Svitolina broke in the seventh game to move ahead 4-3. Zheng broke back to level at 4-4 and forced a tie-break, where she trailed 0-2 before winning the next four points. The tie-break was level at 6-6 before Zheng closed it out on her second match point, 8-6.
Zheng is now hunting for her first Masters 1000-level title, having won two WTA 250 and two WTA 500 titles along with an Olympic gold medal. Earlier in the tournament, she had survived a three-set scare against Alina Charaeva in the round of 16.
Sources:
- hi INDiA: Tennis — Qinwen Zheng stuns Svitolina to march into China Open semifinals (IANS)
- Outlook India: China Open 2026 tennis coverage
