Zheng Qinwen didn’t have any doubts about what caused her lackluster performance in the US Open quarterfinal against Aryna Sabalenka as the No. 7 seed blamed a very late finish in the previous match for basically not showing up on Tuesday.
Playing in her second quarterfinal at Flushing Meadows, the Chinese tennis star stood no chance as the second-seeded Belarusian claimed a dominant 6-1 6-2 win. After losing her serve twice in the opening set, the same happened in the following set as the 2023 US Open finalist needed just an hour and 13 minutes of play to complete her win.
Afterward, Zheng was asked if sealing a 7-6 (2) 4-6 6-2 round-of-16 win over Donna Vekic in a match that finished at 02:15 AM had any impact on what happened against Sabalenka. That’s when the 21-year-old Chinese revealed she was “feeling terrible” after the Vekic match.
Zheng: I felt terrible, I wanted but I didn’t feel like I could…
“Of course it affects a lot. Especially I couldn’t sleep after I finished the match at 2.30 in the morning. This affected me because I was not able to practice yesterday. Yesterday I was feeling terrible. I couldn’t wake up. I wanted to play tennis, but I didn’t feel I could do it. But, yeah, I mean, there are other players who finish, like, really late. I can’t…
