Zheng Qinwen managed to set foot in the quarterfinals of the WTA level 1000 tournament for the second time in his career at the Italian Open, Rome, 2023 season.
The 22nd seed struggled for 2 hours and 30 minutes to eliminate compatriot Wang Xiyu 6-4 3-6 6-1 in the last 16 of the Italian Open.
This meeting was the third meeting between two Chinese women’s tennis players who met in the last 16 of the WTA level 1000 tournament. In the 2019 Miami season, Wang Qiang defeated Wang Yafan and in the 2012 Beijing season, Li Na eliminated Peng Shuai. The meeting in Rome this time was also a replay of the final at the level 125 WTA tournament which was held in Valencia last season which was won by the 22nd seed in three sets.
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The 21-year-old tennis player reached the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 tournament for the first time in her career in Toronto last season by defeating Ons Jabeur and Bianca Andreescu. The victory over Wang made her record 14-8 (in the WTA tournament) in the 2023 season and also led her to the quarterfinals of the clay-court tournament for the first time in her career.
After each tennis player claimed victory in the first two sets, the 22nd seed returned to show the solid game she showed in the first set. And once again, the opportunity for a break point was determined by Wang’s double fault and from that point, the 22nd seed was unstoppable and came out victorious.
“After I went ahead with a break in the second set, I had a lot of chances to hold my serve but I couldn’t do it. I was really nervous because I wanted that game, I really wanted to win it. She played well at the end of the second set and I couldn’t do anything,” said Zheng Qinwen.
“At the start of the third set, I just said to myself, ‘Start playing your game and we’ll see what happens. Don’t focus too much on the result’.”
“I’m still trying to find my game here. My serve wasn’t as strong as before, so I had to adjust my game a bit, be a little more consistent from the baseline area.”
For a place in the semifinals of the Italian Open, Zheng will challenge 11th seed Veronika Kudermetova, who only needed 79 minutes to beat 27th seed Marie Bouzkova 6-2, 6-2. The two tennis players have met before, namely in Tokyo last season and won by the Chinese tennis player in three sets.
