Qinwen Zheng makes history, becoming the first home player to win China Open women's singles title; Plus Alex Eala - Shi Han Preview

Eddie (0:05)

Can ZhengQinwen do this? To win her first 1000 event in her home tournament. And it's an ace to get it done. ZhengQinwen is the China Open champion. She does it, 7-5, 6-4, the crowd go wild, she drops to the court. She has her hands on her face as she's up now. Can she believe it? She shakes hands with Mira Andreeva. I think she's very emotional. And I do think it was a deserved performance. As Jake says, very, very good performance.

I mean, yeah, she is very emotional.

And why shouldn't she be? I mean, given how it's been, she comes forward to hug her coach. And yeah, nice statistic there. 78 games dropped on the way to the title, most for a 1000 event.

John Silk (1:19)

Her coach, of course, being Pére Ribé, they've been together, I think, about two and a half years, maybe. Feels something like that.

He took over from Vinforset, I believe.

Eddie (1:32)

Indeed.

John Silk (1:34)

Who had jumped ship at that point to coach back, coach Naomi Osaka. Of course, since then, he's been on to Igor Sviatnaykin, and I believe he's not working with anyone at the moment. But anyway, we're getting sidetracked. Qinwen Zheng, yeah, is this tweet from Opta Ace Highlights. Really had to dig deep on a few occasions. Today as well, of course, when she was down a break at the beginning of the match, she saved those three set points. Can you remember much about those set points, actually, in the first set she saved?

Yeah.

Eddie (2:05)

I mean, she was down...

John Silk (2:07)

There was a smash at the end of one of the rally, I think, wasn't there?

Eddie (2:10)

Yeah.

Yeah, I can't remember exactly the points. Yeah, I mean, some brave tennis in them, she had to come forward to the net as well, yeah. So, you know, it was pretty brave tennis under pressure, 15-40, and then an advantage that she had to face. And then she eventually held, and yeah, obviously breaks in the next game. And just that's what it comes down to, you know, tennis, you know, those moments, isn't it? I mean, big players, they get their best tennis in those moments, and yeah, that's what she was able to do. And I mean, amazing, really, just how well she's come through as well, because, you know, as you pointed out, like, you know, lost a lot of games on the way to the quarter, she was all three set matches, and then, but then in the semis and this final, I mean, really, really impressive stuff to get them both done in straight sets.

John Silk (3:02)

I mean, what a turnaround it's been for Qinwen over the last three or four weeks. Well, probably five weeks, actually, because that's when Qualifying began for the US Open. And she has a few battles there on route to what's going to be the quarterfinal. Who could forget that?

I think it was a break point to give her a chance to serve for the match against Elena Rabakina, the eventual champion. And I think she missed a pass, I'm going to say, a passing opportunity with Rabakina at the net. And eventually Rabakina wins that match and goes on to take the title, of course. But nevertheless, that was a storming run for her to come through qualities, especially as her year has been pretty rough, right?

Eddie (3:38)

Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, she only came back, I know, after time out from injury to surgery, came back somewhere around February or March this year.

John Silk (3:49)

I think it was just after the Australian Open.

Eddie (3:51)

Yeah. And yeah, she wasn't able to, for a long time, get more than, you know, two or three wins or, you know, or one or two wins, really, in most tournaments.

And yeah, as I say, like, it was that, you know, she really, things were not really working for her. And her and her coach made a decision, I think it was maybe the coach, Pera Reba, you said, he maybe suggested you would maybe just go for a training block before the US Open.

John Silk (4:21)

Okay.

Eddie (4:22)

And that's what they did instead of playing a tournament. And then obviously she did qualify for the US Open and done really well. And now she's, she's obviously come through and won this first. WTA 1000 event and you can see, I can see on the screen that she's, you know, in tears or with, you know, very emotional.

I mean, yeah, it's a sport and it's, it's sometimes throws up these amazing moments and that's certainly an amazing moment for her, for Chinese tennis fans. And yeah, I mean, amazing. First 1000 event and, you know, gets her up close to the top 20 and, you know, she's going to be, I guess, exceeded most events going forward.