Zheng savors second career title in Zhengzhou

Zheng Qinwen thrilled the home fans at the Zhengzhou Open on Sunday, as the Chinese No 1 pulled off a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over No 7 seed Barbora Krejcikova to claim the WTA 500 title, and celebrated with an impromptu karaoke session at the trophy ceremony.

The popular 21-year-old capped an incredible week with victory over Czech Krejcikova to become just the third Chinese woman to win a singles title at the WTA 500 level or higher, after Li Na and Zheng Saisai.

This year marked the first time in WTA Tour history that three different Chinese women have won a singles title in a season, with Zhu Lin triumphing in Hua Hin, Wang Xiyu in Guangzhou and Zheng, last season's WTA Newcomer of the Year, claiming her first trophy in Palermo in July.

After winning Asian Games gold on Sept 29, the 24th-ranked Zheng suffered a disappointing first-round loss at the China Open to Elena Rybakina, but she recovered remarkably by securing the biggest title of her young career 13 days later.

"That was such a special experience to win my first 500 in China, especially in Zhengzhou," said Zheng, who rises to No 19 in the rankings.

"It's a lot of pressure, you could see in the match. In the first set, I was leading 2-0, (then) I lost six games in a row," added Zheng, who also made this year's US Open quarterfinals in a breakout year. "There were a lot of ups and downs, but in the end, the important (thing) is to win the match, whatever happens."

Zheng was the first to break as she leapt to a 2-0 advantage but Krejcikova grabbed the next five games and took a one-set lead in 39 minutes.

Zheng's first-serve percentage was a shockingly low 29 percent and the Chinese No 1 knew that statistic had to change for her to stand a chance against the former French Open champion.

The home favorite began the second set brightly, breaking from the start and carving out a 5-2 gap.

Her first-serve percentage was a healthy 68 percent in that set, and she won 92 percent of those points.

The final set was a tug of war, with the quality of play going up. Rallies got longer, and each player came up with incredible shots when their backs were against the wall.

A brilliant cross-court backhand winner gave Zheng a pair of break points in game seven and the 21-year-old inched ahead 4-3 on a Krejcikova double fault, her sixth of the match.

Krejcikova struck back but she could not hold off Zheng, who regained her advantage and served out the victory in style, with an impressive one-two punch and three service winners.

"Definitely a tough day for me but it was a great week," said Krejcikova, who was bidding for a third title of the season from four finals contested.

Only Iga Swiatek (seven) and Aryna Sabalenka (six) have reached more singles finals than Krejcikova in 2023.

Yuan Yue was the other Chinese woman in a Sunday final but succumbed to top seed Jessica Pegula, 6-2, 6-3, at the Korea Open, handing the American her fourth title of her career.

Pegula dropped only one set through the tournament and becomes the first American since Venus Williams in 2007 to win the title in Seoul.

"My mom is Korean and she was adopted from here so it's really special to be able to win here," Pegula said. "In the last few years, as my ranking has gone up, I've definitely felt so much more support from the fans, a lot more than I expected coming back here from five years ago. So it's really special."

Playing in her first career final, 128th-ranked Yuan showed no signs of nerves and earned a break point in Pegula's opening service game, which the American saved with a forehand winner.

The world No 4 then won eight consecutive games to take the first set and build a 3-0 lead in the second as a quick victory looked likely.

Yuan then rallied to get back to 4-3 but Pegula's power from the baseline propelled her to her first title since Montreal earlier this year and her first outside of North America.

China Daily — Agencies