Zheng Qinwen continues to deliver in her breakthrough season as she advanced to the semi-finals of the WTA Finals in Riyadh on Wednesday with victory over Jasmine Paolini.
Picking up a 30th win from her last 35 matches, the Chinese Olympic gold medallist swept past the fourth-seeded Paolini 6-1, 6-1 in a mere 67 minutes.
In the last day of round-robin action in the Purple Group, Zheng and Paolini were fighting for the second qualification spot behind Aryna Sabalenka, who had already secured her semi-final place on Monday.
With one defeat against Sabalenka and one victory over Elena Rybakina in her opening matches this week in Riyadh, the seventh-seeded Zheng locked down her spot in the final four with a dominating performance against Paolini to become the first Chinese player since Li Na in 2013 to make it out of the group stage at the WTA Finals.
“It was 11 years ago, I’m really proud I could make it. I didn’t know what to expect coming to these WTA Finals for the first time. I was in a very difficult group,” said Zheng, 22.
“It’s one of the best performances I had during this year, really good percentage of first serves, I felt really good on my groundstrokes and I made a couple of good volleys, I really enjoyed it.
An aggressive return earned Zheng her first break of the match in game three and the seventh seed doubled her advantage to go up 5-1.
Paolini, a finalist at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this season, saved a set point on her own serve in game seven but Zheng kept her foot on the gas pedal and closed out the 32-minute set on her second opportunity.
The second set was just as impressive from Zheng and after saving a break point while serving for the match at 5-1, she closed out the win with her 12th ace of the match.
“I finally feel that my serve has started to be a bit more consistent,” said Zheng, who leads the tour in aces and first-serve points won this season.
It was Zheng’s fourth victory in as many meetings with Paolini, who won’t leave Riyadh just yet as she continues to fight for a semi-final spot in doubles alongside her fellow Italian Sara Errani.
Since Wimbledon in July, Zheng has picked up the most wins by any woman on tour. Besides taking gold in singles at the Olympics, she defended her Palermo title, made the quarter-finals at the US Open, the semi-finals in Beijing, the final in Wuhan, and lifted the trophy in Tokyo.
Three of Zheng’s five defeats in that period have come against Sabalenka, who not only advanced to the last four in Riyadh, but has secured the year-end No 1 ranking.
Zheng, who is 0-5 head-to-head against Sabalenka, has been impressed by the Belarusian’s form this season, and says it’s a big source of motivation for her.
“She won two Slams. This is really big achievement for her. And I remember last year, she won her first Grand Slam in the Australian Open. And then she kept going, kept working,” said Zheng, who lost to Sabalenka in this year's Melbourne final and the US Open quarter-finals.
“But you know, both Slams that she won this year, I lost against her on the way. Which means, if I want to win a Slam, I have to be able to beat her. And I'm quite excited and for that day.”
In Wednesday's late game, Rybakina claimed a consolation 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory over world No 1 Sabalenka.
Eliminated from the competition after losing her opening two matches, Rybakina found her form against Sabalenka – a much-needed confidence boost for the world No 5 after missing the majority of the second half of the season with allergies, insomnia, and a back injury.
“It was a tough match and I’m really happy that I managed to win. I think it’s nice to finish the year at least with one win against the world No 1,” said Rybakina, who shared a warm embrace with Sabalenka at the net.
Meanwhile, American sixth seed Jessica Pegula has withdrawn from the tournament with a left knee injury, organisers announced on Wednesday.
A runner-up at the WTA Finals last year, Pegula lost her opening two matches in Saudi Arabia in straight sets and had no chance of advancing to the semi-finals.
The US Open finalist was due to face defending champion Iga Swiatek in the last day of round-robin action on Thursday and will now be replaced by alternate Daria Kasatkina on the schedule.
“I’ve just been struggling with a little bit of an injury and for whatever reason, it really flared up this week. Not really sure why,” explained Pegula, 30.
“In the few days before practice, it felt really, really good, but it started creeping up right before my first match, and just feel like I'm not feeling comfortable moving on court, so I just wanted to make the decision to unfortunately pull out.”
Kasatkina is ranked No 9 in the world and recently clinched the WTA 500 title in Ningbo.
She is 1-5 head-to-head against Swiatek, losing her last five consecutive clashes with the Pole.
Coco Gauff is the only player in the Orange Group in Riyadh to have secured passage to the semi-finals.
