Zheng Qinwen isn’t hiding that she is very happy with her game and results but admits that the Aryna Sabalenka challenge is the thing that motivates her to work harder because she feels that’s what she needs to figure out next if she wants to win a Grand Slam.
This season, the Chinese tennis star made her first Slam and WTA 1000 finals at the Australian Open and Wuhan – but she remains without titles in those categories because of the Belarusian.
Since Wimbledon, the 22-year-old has been on fire and she even captured the gold medal in her Olympic debut in Paris. When it comes to Tour-level events, Zheng has won 24 matches during this period and that’s the most for a player in the second part of 2024.
But one thing remains a major issue for the Paris Olympics gold medalist – Sabalenka. In three of her five losses suffered since Wimbledon, the Chinese fell short to the new world No. 1.
After suffering a three-set defeat in the Wuhan final, Zheng continued her fine form at the WTA 500 event in Tokyo and triumphed there. But in her WTA Finals opener, she didn’t have an answer for the Belarusian.
Still, the world No. 7 managed to make it past the group stage in Riyadh and she could potentially have her sixth meeting versus Sabalenka in the final if she beats Barbora…
