Zheng makes triumphant return

Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen's triumphant return has set the tone for the tennis fever to grip the "Golden Week" holiday.

Three days ahead of the weeklong break to celebrate National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival, this year's China Open has already set all-time highs in single-day attendance at 45,000, and on-site consumption of 3.2 million yuan ($448,573) on Saturday, due in large part to the surging public anticipation of the comeback of "Queen Wen".

The home favorite, despite not yet being one hundred percent recovered from her right elbow surgery in July, did not disappoint at all, as Zheng put her aggressive game on a full display to beat Colombia's Emiliana Arango in straight sets at the National Tennis Center in Beijing to advance into the third round at the WTA 1000 tournament.

It wasn't in her plan, though, to rush a meticulous rehab program just to make it to the Diamond Court for what was her first match in nearly three months.

The world No 9 still felt the discomfort from her surgically repaired elbow, the rust from a long layoff since her last match in the first round at Wimbledon, and faced the risk of potentially hurting herself again.

The feeling of getting back to business, and doing so at home, made it all worthwhile in the end, though.

"Do you miss me? Because I missed you guys so much!" Zheng shouted to a rousing reaction from the capacity crowd at the 15,000-seat central court after her 6-3, 6-2 victory over Arango, who entered the main draw as a lucky loser from the qualifiers.

Still working daily on a diligent rehab process, Zheng confessed that the tournament, which kicked off its main draw on Wednesday, originally wasn't on her plan for the monthlong "China Swing", but it was the unwavering fan support during her absence that made her want to pay them back — even against the advice of her team — by at least giving it a try.

"The recovery process is very long. In the beginning, I healed really fast. When it reached the last 20 percent (of full recovery), somehow it just didn't get better (as soon as I expected)," Zheng said during her post-match news conference.

"I checked with my team, and they told me not to take any risks by playing matches. I am only 80, or 70, percent of my full strength, and I still felt a bit of fatigue in the area where I had surgery, which is normal.

"But, I really want to make it happen and appear on the court for all the fans. Match by match, I believe I will recover better during the tournament.

"I made a tough decision to play tonight, and it proved to be the right one, although I'm still carrying a little bit of pain.

"There's no better place to make it happen than doing it at home and on the Diamond Court," said the 22-year-old, who helped propel the sport's popularity to new heights in China by winning Asia's first singles Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024.

And the statistics proved her right.

With Saturday's win, Zheng now holds a 9-3 win-loss career record at WTA 1000 level in China, earning her the highest win rate — 75 percent — of any Chinese player since the top-tier format began in 2009, according to official WTA figures.

Across all WTA Tour events in China, Zheng has won 17 of 21 matches to achieve the third-highest win rate (81 percent) of any player since 2000, behind only China Open's defending champion Coco Gauff of the United States (87.5 percent) and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus (83 percent).

Zheng will try to continue that momentum against No 27 Linda Noskova of Czech Republic in the round of 32 on Monday.

Zheng has won both of their previous Tour-level encounters, including a three-set battle in the third round of the clay-court WTA 1000 Rome Open in 2024.

"She is a tough player. As far as I know she is really quick. She will definitely be a very challenging player," Zheng said. "It really depends on how much I can recover. I look forward to a better performance and more support from the fans."

Despite not being back to her peak, Zheng's baseline game, particularly her pinpoint forehand shots, which helped her convert three of four break points against Arango on Saturday, is back.

Yet, it is the lethal force in her kick serve, which matters in seesaw battles against opponents in the top-10, that needs more time to return to full potency, underscored by her three double faults and subpar first-serve percentage against the 50th-ranked Arango.

"I am pretty happy with my baseline game tonight. I just need to gradually step it up a gear in my serve. I feel like I could serve stronger and faster with my rehab going into the final 20 percent, perhaps," said Zheng, who hit a total of 445 aces last year to lead all women on the Tour.

With or without the home-court queen making another deep run, like she did last year when she reached the semifinals, the tournament has already won, with Saturday's peak figures in attendance and revenue, confirmed by organizers, suggesting that more records will fall once the holiday break begins on Wednesday.

"She is a huge factor," WTA's chief brand officer Sarah Swanson said of Zheng's impact on promoting the profile of the sport and the brands of the local tournaments.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn