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Seven months ago, Zheng Qinwen was ranked 160th. On Sunday she beat French Open champion Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 to win the China Open. It is her first WTA 1000 title and her sixth on tour, and the first for a Chinese woman in Beijing.
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A week of firsts
Zheng entered as a wild card and is currently ranked 54th. She is the first wild card to win the event since it returned in 2004, and the lowest-ranked champion in that span. Before this week, no Chinese player had even reached the final.
She earned it via the scenic route. Her first four matches all went three sets, including wins over Anna Kalinskaya, Marie Bouzkova and Alina Charaeva, who had knocked out Elena Rybakina. She then beat Elina Svitolina in straight sets in the quarterfinals and Elise Mertens 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals. By the semis she had spent more time on court than anyone at a single WTA event this season, 13 hours and 33 minutes across six matches. Over the full week she dropped 78 games, the most by a champion at a WTA 1000 or Tier I event since 1990. She also hit 219 winners, the most by anyone at a single tour event this year.
The final turned on one stretch. Andreeva broke early and then held three set points at 4-5. Zheng saved all three and won the last 11 points of the set. She broke late in the second to close it out, finishing with an ace on her first match point before dropping to the court in tears.
The result also fits a recovery that started earlier this year. Zheng was knocked out in the first round at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year and had to qualify at the U.S. Open. She reached the quarterfinals there, coming back from 5-0 down against both Madison Keys and Iga ลwiฤ tek.
Her post-match comments were notable for being more about herself than the opponent. โWhen I was battling my opponents, I was also battling myself,โ she said, adding that her biggest issue had been staying aggressive at critical moments without being soft. She launched back in the top 30 as a result.
Andreeva had a good week of her own. She reached her fifth final of 2026 and becomes the World No. 3, the third-youngest player this century to get there, behind only Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters.
Zheng skips Wuhan
The cost of winning in Beijing is that Zheng will not be in Wuhan. She withdrew within hours of the trophy ceremony, citing fatigue after the U.S. Open, the Billie Jean King Cup and the China Open. Wuhan is her hometown tournament, and she was the runner-up there in 2024, losing to Aryna Sabalenka. It is a real loss for the event, though it is hard to argue with her decision after that workload and a year of injury rehab. Andreeva has also pulled out, citing fatigue.
The Wuhan field
The Wuhan Open is the last WTA 1000 of the season. It runs through Sunday on outdoor hard courts, with 1,000 points and $665,000 going to the champion. The main draw is 56 players, and 15 have withdrawn. The list includes world No. 1 Rybakina (foot), defending champion Coco Gauff (fatigue), Amanda Anisimova (wrist), Keys (abdominal injury), Naomi Osaka, Emma Navarro, Linda Noskovรก, Andreeva and Zheng.
Sabalenkaโs draw
Sabalenka is the top seed and the only former champion in the field, having won in 2018, 2019 and 2024. She has not won a tournament since March, and she lost in the third round in Beijing. She starts with a bye, then faces Ann Li or lucky loser Camila Osorio, who took the spot Zheng vacated. Mertens, who beat both Gauff and ลwiฤ tek in Beijing, is a possible third-round opponent. The projected quarterfinal is ลwiฤ tek, the seventh seed. They have not played since Roland Garros more than a year ago, and ลwiฤ tek leads the head-to-head 8-5. It would also be their first meeting of 2026.
Sabalenka is the clear favorite on form and pedigree. It is not an easy section, though, and it should test her early.
The other half
Jessica Pegula is the second seed and a finalist here last year. She has not played since the US Open, where she lost to Sabalenka in the semifinals, and skipped Beijing. Her opening match is against Jelena Ostapenko or Daria Kasatkina. Karolรญna Muchovรก, the sixth seed, is in her quarter, and Alexandra Eala, the 13th seed, is a possible third-round opponent. The other quarter is headed by Svitolina and Belinda Bencic now that Noskovรก is out.
Leylah Fernandez, fresh off the Singapore title, beat Ekaterina Alexandrova in three sets on Monday and is a live name in Pegulaโs section.
Andreevaโs exit reshaped the second quarter. Iva Jovic, the 10th seed and a recent Guadalajara champion, now has a bye and a path with only one top-eight seed, Marta Kostyuk. A semifinal is a realistic target for her.
Players to watch
Nikola Bartunkova is the breakout name from Beijing. She beat both Muchovรก and Sabalenka on her way to the semifinals, and she plays Lilli Tagger in the first round, a matchup between two very different styles. Mertens has momentum after the Gauff and ลwiฤ tek wins, but she faces the usual question about how she backs up a big week.
The WTA Finals race
Three spots at the year-end WTA Finals in Indian Wells are still open, which raises the stakes beyond the points. Svitolina is chasing a place and ลwiฤ tek is fighting to stay in the top eight, so both have extra motivation. Sabalenka also trails Rybakina by roughly 2,100 points in the rankings, so a title here would help but would not close the gap.
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This Week in Women’s Tennis
The UN human rights office put out a statement in support of Coco Gauff following the American receiving an onslaught of online abuse during the China Open:
Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani downed Kateลina Siniakovรก and Zhang Shuai to win the doubles title in Beijing. It was an impressive performance but I was even more impressed with Siniakovรก hanging through to still partner Zhang:
Mirra Andreeva and Linda Noskovรก qualified for the WTA Finals and aim to be among the names to win in their debut.
Get to know Alina Charaeva, the newest member of the Top 100 following her Beijing quarterfinal run.
Mattel has unveiled a Barbie of Serena Williams on International Day of the Girl using the GOAT’s 2005 Australian Open outfit:
Alex Eala was a guest on idol Maria Sharapova’s Pretty Tough podcast:
Diana Shnaider headlines a field for the WTA 250 in Hong Kong that includes three other Top 20 players.
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Five at The IX: China Open Week 2
Q. Ever since 2024, Paris Olympics, there is a Chinese tennis fever has taken off across the country. More and more people are picking up this sport. As someone who helped fuel this, all this excitement about tennis both on and off the court, how do you feel about it?
ZHENG QINWEN: Well, I always know how much I can inspire people after winning the 2024 Olympic gold medal. After that, in 2025, I had those big flip, big surgery in my elbow, which is not easy. When I was at the lowest moment, everyone is saying, like, I couldn’t come back. Everyone has doubt about me.
Also my friend, they are keep asking me what’s happen during this period of time. I couldn’t answer because I felt like I just forgot how to compete after coming back from injure.
Finally after through many losses, I find my fire again when I’m playing the competition match. Like I always said, tennis is not just about hitting the balls, it’s also about how much you want to win.
I am just so grateful that I found the inside fire back. Right now I’m trying to reach the best version of myself.
Q. Five titles this year. Outstanding season across the board. I know a lot has happened since you were together for the first two titles, but it’s quite remarkable what you’ve been able to put together this year given the trials you both had injury- and illness-wise. Can you put into context what having a year like this means based off of the path to get there.
LUISA STEFANI: Yeah, I mean, I think for me it’s still kind of in the middle of it. It kind of feels like job’s not finished in terms of the season still going.
I have a lot of pride. I’m very grateful for everything that we’ve been accomplishing and how well we’ve been playing, how we’ve improved together since the beginning of the year.
What the process has been like, too, in terms of our team effort, and not just Gabby and I, but our team as well who are guiding us and helping us be better as a team.
I think it’s really cool to see that come to light in how we execute and how we perform. Then we get results from it. I think it’s kind of cool to be in the middle of this process and living it in real-time.
In terms of really analyzing and breaking down what it means, I’m still not really fully looking at the results or titles. I’m more into the process of what we’re trying to do.
But I’d say mostly a healthy year, especially at this time of the season, we’re almost in November. To be healthy and playing well, winning a title here, also means a lot. It’s really special to, yeah, just still feel good at this point in the season.
Like I said, there’s still a little bit more to go. I’m trying to focus on what we’re doing and still enjoying staying present and staying in the moment. Yeah, I think that’s hard to do sometimes, but I’m glad we’re working on it.
GABRIELA DABROWSKI: Yeah, no, I think Lu said some of the most important things about our partnership, which is focusing on the process. I feel like through injury and illness, it’s this sort of journey that you’re on to heal and get healthy and trust your body again.
I feel like our partnership this year has been a great representation of adversity management and how we’ve been able to stay strong through a lot of struggles individually with both of our bodies.
I think it’s a beautiful thing what we’ve got this year. We’ve both said, like, we want consistent results, we want to push the later rounds in all the tournaments that we play. Fortunately we’ve been able to do that.
It’s great to see what we’re doing working as it has. We also feel motivated to keep going and finish the rest of the season strong at the same time. Yeah, it’s been really cool.
Q. You could qualify for the WTA Finals with two different partners. You could qualify as a team and qualify with Elise or Taylor. Share your plans going forward.
KATEลINA SINIAKOVร: Also that’s why we didn’t win because then WTA wouldn’t know what to do because it never happened [laughter]. No, I’m just joking.
I mean, to hearing it now it’s actually incredible. It’s amazing because we just play third tournament. To qualify from three tournaments would be, I don’t know, unbelievable.
I don’t know. I think we just stay in the present little bit. Of course, we are both qualified with some other player. I think we are willing to play it because next week we play with another player.
We don’t need to discuss it now.
Definitely, as I said, I’m just enjoying the time with Shuai. Even if it didn’t happen now or we didn’t qualify, I’m really happy that I would play with her.
Of course, I’m looking forward for Finals. I’m happy that I can see Shuai there, as well.
ZHANG SHUAI: We try to make more player into the Final [laughter]. We could play, like, two teams.
Q. I heard what you said about hoping to hear your Chinese nickname. I just want to tell you that there are many people cheering for you. During your whole tour in Beijing, what is one moment you feel especially proud of?
MIRRA ANDREEVA: I mean, one moment? I think I can say what for me stands out the most, the match probably I had against Alexandrova. I think that was a pretty tough one. Also getting my first win over her. It was a pretty nerve-wracking match for me.
So yeah, winning that match on two tiebreaks, I think that would be I would say one of the toughest matches that I’ve had here. For me, that stands out the most.
Of course, I mean, I know that some people are still supporting and some people, they want to show support, I don’t know, to kind of support me. Still, I mean, it’s kind of hard to compare the support, especially today.
Yeah, I mean, I know that there were still some people out there that were cheering for me. Of course, thanks to them. It’s always very nice to hear some cheering, even when it’s not super fair, but that’s okay [smiling].
Q. Your celebration after the match shows how much this result, making a semifinal after all this time at a 1000, in the doubles as well, but what does this result and this week, a singles resurgence, mean to you?
ELISE MERTENS: I mean, very unexpected. On the other hand I’m stilling doing the same as I’ve been doing for many years. It’s really nice to get that recognition once in a while.
Now back-to-back top 10 wins. You don’t do that every day. I’m just taking it all in. Today I didn’t expect it to go my way. After the first set I was like, okay, let’s keep pushing. You never know with her.
For me, yeah, this is one of the best weeks for sure out of my year. Wimbledon and this one.
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