Chinese tennis player Zheng Qinwen debuted at the Stuttgart Open in the 2023 season, starting with a straight sets victory.
The world number 25 needed 1 hour 41 minutes to get rid of American Alycia Parks 6-4 6-4 and book her Stuttgart Open second round match against first seed and defending champion Iga Swiatek.
The victory was revenge for the Chinese national’s loss to Parks when they met in Berlin last season, which was the first match of the Chinese national in the WTA tournament to be held on grass-court. Meeting on indoor clay, the Chinese tennis player proved that he is more consistent.
After appearing on Court 1, the 20-year-old tennis player expressed his hope to play in a big stadium when playing his next match.
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When told that his match against world No. 1 Swiatek would almost certainly be held at a major venue, Zheng expressed, “It was perfect. I like a challenge.”
The world number 25 and Swiatek met twice last season, namely at the French Open and San Diego Open, both of which were won by the world number 1.
Meanwhile, Parks is enjoying her own buzz on indoor tournaments, having bagged 15 wins on indoor hard-courts, including winning the first WTA title of her career in Lyon. But she lost in this week’s qualifying round to Tamara Korpatsch and appeared at the Stuttgart Open as a lucky loser. Since becoming a champion at Lyon, he has only won one of the eight matches he has played.
“He’s quite difficult to beat, because he has a very big serve. I mean, it’s hard to return. It’s always more difficult playing against a player like that, because you know once you lose your serve it can be really dangerous. Of course, I have to concentrate a lot on the service game because when I get a chance, I have to take advantage of it,” Zheng Qinwen explained.
Meanwhile ahead of the match against Swiatek, Zheng said, “The first time when I met him, he was a world number 1 tennis player, I came from nowhere. For the first time for me to play in an atmosphere like that. I think I’m a little bit more experienced now.”
“I think in the next match, I can perform well. And I want to show the best performance. In tennis, you never know what’s going to happen. That’s the beauty of tennis.”
In other action, Croatian tennis player, Donna Vekic defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6, 7-6, while Spaniard Cristina Bucsa dashed the hopes of the host player, Korpatsch after claiming victory 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 .
