Zheng Qinwen succeeded in a successful return to the WTA tour in front of the house fans at the China Open after being sidelined for more than two months after elbow surgery.
The world n ° 9 defeated Lucky Loser Emiliana Arango from Colombia 6-3, 6-2 on Saturday to go to the third round in Beijing. It was Zheng’s first victory since June.
First victory since Queen’s Club
Zheng’s victory marked his first victory since his end of the semi-finals at the Queen’s Club in June. Since then, her only appearance in a tournament was in Wimbledon, where she lost in the first round. China n ° 1 opted for surgery to resolve a right -in -law injury that had troubled it for a large part of the 2025 season and decided to enter Beijing, although it is not at its 100%level.
“In fact, China Open was not in our plan because as I said in the court, I was not yet 100%”, “said Zheng at her post-match press conference.” Like 80%, 70%, but I am able to compete. The recovery process is very long. At first, I healed very quickly. In one way or another, with regard to 20%, this has not improved.
“I checked with my team, and they told me that you have no risk of playing games. It depends on you. I love playing here in China. I made a difficult decision to walk on the field and see what will happen during the match. So far, it was pretty good.”
Domination over Arango continues
The match on Saturday was Zheng’s third meeting with Arango, and the 22-year-old woman improved her record at 3-0. Zheng has not yet abandoned a set against the Colombian, with his previous victories, including a online set victory in the second round of the French Open this year.
Solid record on home at home
The victory also continued the impressive form of Zheng at home, where it is a big favorite of the crowd. She now has a 9-3 career record at WTA 1000 events in China, giving her the highest victory rate (75%) of any Chinese player since the start of the format in 2009.
In all WTA Tour events in China, Zheng won 17 of the 21 games (81%), the third highest victory rate of all players since 2000, behind Coco Gauff (87.5%) and Aryna Sabalenka (83%). Since the return of the tour in China in 2023, Zheng has recorded the most match victories on a soil at home with 17.
“I am really happy. I was frustrated by missing the Open of the United States. Bringing the best performance here this evening, receiving the support of the crowd, feeling their passion, I receive an additional motivation by playing in these conditions. Coming here to the China Open depends on the support of the fans because my team does not really support me by playing this tournament. In each session of training, I don’t really want to play these fans and I didn’t really want to play these fans. people “Zheng said to the media after his victory.
Noskova is waiting in the third round
The next step for Zheng is the seeded n ° 26 Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic. Zheng won his two previous games at the tour level, including a three -set battle in the third round in Rome in 2024.
“She is a difficult player. As far as I know, she is really fast. Of course, I have to chat with my team. She will certainly be a very difficult player,” said Zheng after her victory. “It really depends on the quantity that I can recover. I look forward to better performance. We will see what is going on. I look forward to the support of fans support.”
