By hannover-web.com On October 10th, the 2024 Dongfeng Lantu Wuhan Open kicked off the women’s singles third round, where China’s rising star, fifth seed Zheng Qinwen, staged an impressive comeback to defeat Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 2-1 and secure a spot in the quarterfinals.
In her previous match, Zheng faced Romanian wildcard player Andreea Prisăcariu and won in straight sets, earning her a place in the next round. With this victory, Zheng climbed to the seventh position in the WTA year-end championship rankings.
Earlier in the day, Zheng Qinwen had faced a tough opponent in Fernandez, having previously lost both encounters against her. The match began with Zheng dropping the first set 5-7, but she quickly rebounded in the second set with two successful breaks, winning 6-3. In the decisive third set, Zheng dominated her opponent, finishing strong with a 6-0 victory.
As a leading figure of a new generation of Chinese tennis players, Zheng has been busy competing in North America following the Paris Olympics, and now she is back in her hometown for the Wuhan Open as a main draw player. After her back-to-back wins, Zheng expressed her gratitude, stating, “Facing Fernandez was challenging. The support from the audience was tremendous, and it truly helped me in turning the match around. I will keep fighting.”
In another highlight match that day, Chinese player Wang Xinyu made headlines by defeating world number three Jessica Pegula 6-3, 7-5, securing her first-ever spot in the WTA 1000 quarterfinals.
Next up, both Zheng Qinwen and Wang Xinyu are set to face tough challenges against Italy’s Camila Giorgi and Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, respectively.
