WTA1000 Wuhan Open tennis tournament will usher in the final chapter at 17:00 this afternoon, the good news is that Zheng Qinwen reached the final of the Wuhan Open for the first time, and also set a number of records, bad news: he met Sabalenka again.
Zheng Qinwen VS Sabalenka
This will be the fourth meeting between the two men, having previously met in Grand Slam tournaments with Sabalenka winning 2-0.
In the US Open 1/4 Open in 23 and 24, Sabalenka blocked Zheng Qinwen from the top 4; In the 24-year Australian Open, Zheng Qinwen advanced to the Grand Slam final for the first time, but unfortunately lost to Saba and only won the runner-up.
This is the first time the two have met outside of a Grand Slam tournament and the second time the two have met in the final. According to the previous combat records, Zheng Qinwen has a big gap with Saba in terms of height, experience and physical strength.
And Saba has an absolute "dominance" in the Wuhan Open, has never lost in the Wuhan Open, holds a record of 16 wins, and is the first tennis player in the history of the tournament to reach the singles final three times.
With her reach to the final, she has surpassed Swiatek to first place in the championship points. What's even more remarkable is that this is the seventh time she has reached the final this year, and she has just won the US Open not long ago, and her momentum and form are strong.
Although Zheng Qinwen has lost to Saba three times before, the tennis open will be held in her hometown this time, and there are many fans supporting her, which will undoubtedly boost her confidence and determination to prove herself.
Zheng Qinwen broke into the finals this time and set a number of records!
One: Zheng Qinwen reached the final in her first appearance at the martial arts open, and it was also the first time she advanced to the final of a WTA1000-level event.
2: Zheng Qinwen is the first Chinese player in the history of Wuhan Open to advance to the singles final, and the first person in the history of Chinese tennis.
Three: She has hit a total of 368 aces this season, the highest among any female tennis player.
Four: After Wimbledon at the beginning of the year, Zheng Qinwen has won 24 victories so far, one more than his rival Saba. Zheng is also the most winning women's tennis player on tour this season.
Five: Regardless of whether she wins the championship or not, the championship points have already surpassed Navarro, who is 7th. If you are not overtaken in the remaining games, you will get a place in the finals at the end of the year.
At that time, Zheng Qinwen will become the second tennis player from mainland China to participate in the WTA year-end finals after Li Na, and will also lead Chinese tennis to a higher level!
The road to the promotion of the martial arts
Zheng Qinwen is the No. 5 seed in this tournament and has a first-round bye. In the second round, he lost 2-0 to his opponent Christian, and eliminated Fernandes 2-1 in the third round.
In the fourth round, he met "one of the biggest opponents" Paulini, who is the No. 3 seed in this tournament and has a higher world ranking and experience than Zheng Qinwen. However, Zheng Qinwen won the previous two encounters, so from a purely psychological perspective, her confidence will be stronger.
Sure enough, she won the match 2-1 and successfully advanced to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, she met Wang Xinyu, another golden flower of China, and Zheng Qinwen withdrew from the mixed doubles competition in order to save his strength during the Olympics.
It is worth mentioning that this is not only the first time that the two have met in their careers, but also the first time that the "Chinese Derby" has been staged in the semifinals of the WTA1000 singles level, which means that the Chinese players have locked the final place in advance. In the end, Zheng Qinwen defeated Wang Xinyu 2-0 to enter the final.
Sabalenka was in the same situation, as the No. 1 seed had a bye in the first round, a 2-0 defeat in the second round, a 2-1 elimination in the third round, and a 2-0 Fletcher in the quarter-finals.
In the semi-finals, she met No. 4 seed Gauff, who had recently won the tournament
The two played a three-set battle at the net, and in the end, Gauff defeated Sabalenka 2-1 to win the China Open.
This time, the two also played three sets, but the result was reversed, and Saba defeated Gauff 2-1 and became Zheng Qinwen's opponent in the final.
Judging from Zheng Qinwen and Saba's path to advancement, both of them have experienced two straight defeats, two three-set battles, and defeated the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds respectively, and their strength is comparable. Coupled with the average state of Saba Wuwang, Zheng Qinwen still has a great chance of an upset.
Zheng Qinwen analyzes the situation in the final
Before the game, Zheng Qinwen was interviewed by reporters and analyzed the current situation.
According to her, in terms of strength alone, the two sides are five or five, but Saba has defeated Zheng Qinwen three times before, and he still maintains 16 wins in the martial arts net, and his confidence will be much stronger than Zheng Qinwen.
So what Zheng Qinwen has to do now is to adjust his mentality and not be affected by external factors. She also admitted that a large part of the reason why she lost last month's US Open was that she thought too much and put too much pressure on herself to perform at her normal level.
After this period of adjustment, her mentality has changed a lot, and the only regret is that she has a little fever now and her physical strength has not reached its peak.
Tournament time + bonus points
Looking at his performance this season alone, Saba has faced the world's top 10 12 times this year, with a record of 8 wins and 4 losses; Zheng Qinwen has played against the world's top 10 eight times, with a record of 3 wins and 5 losses, and most of them have lost to Saba.
The fans also knew that the two had a similar style of play, so they didn't put too much pressure on Zheng Qinwen, and had three goals for her. The small goal is to hold his serve first, the medium goal is to break Saba's serve, and the big goal is to win the first set and break the 0-2 curse.
The martial arts finals between the two will officially start at around 17:00, when the champion will win 525,000 US dollars (about 3.71 million RMB) + 1,000 points, and the runner-up will be 650 points + 309,000 US dollars (about 2.18 million RMB).
Whether Saba achieved four kills against Zheng Qinwen and 17 consecutive victories in the martial arts net, or Zheng Qinwen won the highest honor in his own martial arts net from Saba, the former champion, depends on tonight's trembling.
Ningbo Tennis Open
Now Zheng Qinwen's championship points have risen to 4,100 points, 532 points more than Navarro's 3,568. If she wins the Wuhan Open, she and Navarro will have a bigger points, which will be more beneficial for her to compete for a place in the finals.
In order to ensure that the points are not overtaken, Zheng Qinwen also participated in the Ningbo Open, as the second seed, she had a bye in the first round, and it is likely to meet Mukhova in the second round.
The two have played each other twice this year, with one win and one loss. Not long ago at the China Open, Zheng Qinwen was stopped at the door of the final by Mukhova and missed the final 0-2. However, Zheng Qinwen was not feeling well at that time, and he fell and injured himself during the game, and failed to play his best.
If the Ningbo Open is against each other this time, it will definitely be another hard battle.
However, Ningbo is a 500-level event, and the championship points are only 500, and Zheng Qinwen is now 532 points ahead of Navarro, the pressure will not be too great, but it should not be taken lightly, and it is naturally better to stabilize the points in the second half.
Finally, who do you think has a better chance of winning the championship this time Zheng Qinwen VS Saba?