Zheng Qinwen

Zheng Qinwen (born 8 October 2002) is a Chinese professional tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 by the WTA, on 23 October 2023. Zheng has won two WTA, one WTA Challenger and eight ITF singles titles, and was named the 2022 WTA Newcomer of the Year.
Junior career
Zheng was born in Shiyan, Hubei. Before Zheng turned three years old, she spent a lot of time in her maternal grandmother's home in Chengdu, Sichuan, where her mother originated.
Zheng left Shiyan when she was eight to train in Wuhan, and was soon inspired by Li Na's run to the 2011 French Open title. She later trained with Li's former coach Carlos Rodriguez in Beijing.
Professional career
2021: WTA debut, top 150
In January 2021, she won the Tennis Future Hamburg, Germany where she defeated Linda Fruhvirtová in the final of the $25k event, held at the venue of the Hamburger Tennis-Verband.
On 20 June 2021, she won the final of the $60k Macha Lake Open in Staré Splavy, defeating Aleksandra Krunić in two sets.
Zheng made her WTA Tour debut at the Palermo Ladies Open, where she also recorded her first win defeating second seed Liudmila Samsonova in the first round.
2022: Major debut & fourth round, first WTA Tour final & top 25 debut
At the Melbourne Summer Set 1, she reached her first WTA Tour semifinal after beating Mai Hontama, former No. 2 Vera Zvonareva, and Ana Konjuh, respectively. She lost her semifinal match to second seed Simona Halep, in straight sets.
A week after Melbourne Summer Set, Zheng qualified for her first major event, at the Australian Open where she defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round. In the second, she lost to fifth seed Maria Sakkari, in straight sets. As a result, she reached the top 100 at world No. 80, on 31 January 2022.
At the French Open, she defeated Maryna Zanevska on her debut at this major. Next she beat former French Open champion and 19th seed, Simona Halep, her first top-20 win, to move to the third round of a major for the first time in her career. She moved into the fourth round after Alizé Cornet's retirement. On 30 May 2022, she lost to top seed and world No. 1, Iga Świątek of Poland, in the fourth round, referring to menstrual cramps as a contributing factor. Zheng was still happy about her performance and glad that she was able to play against the world's number one. As a result, she moved to a new career-high of No. 54, on 6 June 2022, and reached the top 50, at world No. 46, a week later when she won her first WTA 125 title at the Open Internacional de Valencia defeating compatriot Wang Xiyu.
She debuted at Wimbledon and defeated Sloane Stephens in the first round. She won her second match at this major against Greet Minnen, before falling to the eventual champion, Elena Rybakina, in the third round.
In August, Zheng defeated fifth seed Ons Jabeur by retirement for her first top-10 win in the second round and Bianca Andreescu in the third round of the Canadian Open to enter the first WTA 1000 quarterfinal of her career, in which she lost to Karolína Plíšková, in three sets. At the US Open, Zheng defeated Jeļena Ostapenko in the first round and Anastasia Potapova in the second. She was beaten in the third round by Jule Niemeier, in straight sets.
At the Pan Pacific Open in Japan, she became the first Chinese teenager to ever reach a WTA Tour final which she lost to Liudmila Samsonova. Her win over top seed Paula Badosa in the second round was her first completed top-10 win and second overall (after Jabeur in Toronto). She also became the second teenager to make a WTA 500-level or higher final in the season after Coco Gauff. As a result, she reached the top 30 at world No. 28, on 26 September 2022, becoming the first Chinese teenager to do so.
2023: Major & clay WTA 1000 quarterfinals, first two WTA Tour titles, top 15
Zheng began the season with a win over former world No. 2 player, Anett Kontaveit, in the first round of the Adelaide International, saving match points in the third set to triumph in a final set tiebreak. She lost to Victoria Azarenka in the second round, and also reached the second round at the Australian Open.
On her debut at the Italian Open, she defeated Alizé Cornet, Anna Bondár, and compatriot Wang Xiyu to reach the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 tournament for the second time in her career, and her first tour-level quarterfinal on clay. As a result, she reached No. 19 in the WTA rankings, becoming the fifth Chinese player ever to break into the top 20 – the first four in order of career-high ranking were Li Na (No. 2), Wang Qiang (12), Peng Shuai (14) and Zheng Jie (15). At the French Open, as the 19th seed, she beat Tamara Zidanšek in the first round, before losing to Yulia Putintseva in the second.
Zheng's grass season yielded disappointing results, as she lost all three singles matches that she played. In Berlin, she lost to Veronika Kudermetova, in Eastbourne to Jessica Pegula, and in Wimbledon, as the 24th seed, she lost to Katerina Siniaková.
Zheng received a wildcard into her next tournament in Palermo. As the second seed, she double bagelled Sara Errani, then beat Diane Parry, Emma Navarro and Mayar Sherif to reach her second tour-level final in which she beat Jasmine Paolini to win her first WTA Tour title.
As the 23rd seed, Zheng defeated Nadia Podoroska and Kaia Kanepi to reach the third round of the US Open, before beating Lucia Bronzetti in a three-set thriller to enter her second major fourth round. She upset fifth seed and defending finalist, Ons Jabeur, to advance to her maiden major quarterfinal, losing there to world No. 2 and eventual finalist, Aryna Sabalenka.
She captured her second WTA title on home-soil at the WTA 500 2023 Zhengzhou Open defeating Barbora Krejcikova.
Following reaching the final at the 2023 WTA Elite Trophy where she defeated compatriot Lin Zhu in the semifinals, she entered the top 15 in the rankings.
Performance timelines
Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Billie Jean King Cup, United Cup, Hopman Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.
Singles
Current through the 2023 Zhengzhou Open.
Doubles
Current through the 2023 Wimbledon Championships.
Significant finals
WTA Elite Trophy
Singles: 1 (runner-up)
WTA Tour finals
Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)
WTA Challenger finals
Singles: 1 (title)
ITF Circuit finals
Singles: 8 (8 titles)
Junior Circuit finals
Singles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runner–ups)
Record against other players
Record against top 10 players
She has a record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.
Double bagel matches
Notes
References
External links
2002 births
Living people
Chinese female tennis players
Sportspeople from Wuhan
21st-century Chinese women
Tennis players at the 2022 Asian Games
Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games
Asian Games medalists in tennis
Asian Games gold medalists for China