WTA Miami Open: Zheng Qinwen Defeats Grand Slam Champion Again, Faces Sabalenka

This morning Beijing time, Chinese player Zheng Qinwen reversed the match with a 4-6/6-2/6-4 victory over the 15th seed Keys in the third round of the WTA1000 Miami Open, advancing to the women's singles quarterfinals, currently ranking No.30 in live rankings. This marks Zheng Qinwen's first win against a TOP20 player since last year's French Open. In this match, she performed excellently, showing persistent fighting spirit, defeating local Grand Slam champions consecutively in two rounds, and her recovery momentum is encouraging.

Zheng Qinwen

In the first set, both sides mainly relied on serves to establish advantages, with few rallies. Zheng Qinwen, serving later, experienced fluctuations towards the end of the set, and Keys seized the opportunity to break serve, winning the set 6-4. In the second set, Zheng Qinwen missed four break points at the start but later improved her ability to handle crucial points, achieving breaks in the third and seventh games, and leveled the match 6-2. Entering the deciding set, Keys committed consecutive double faults and unforced errors in the third game, Zheng Qinwen capitalized with a break, maintained her lead until the end, and finally won the set 6-4 to complete the reversal.

Zheng Qinwen said in her post-match on-court interview: "This match wasn't easy, Keys played very brilliant tennis, she started with intense bombardment, and I initially struggled to react because I haven't been in such a fast-paced match rhythm for a long time; it took me some time to adapt." She frankly stated that life during injury recovery was very dull, and she enjoys the feeling of returning to competition, "There are so many things I enjoy on the tour, especially competing with the girls. My body thrives under pressure; these six months without any pressure made life feel really dull, days without tennis are truly boring! I love tennis, I love playing in beautiful outfits, I love everything!"

Sabalenka

To defend her quarterfinal points from last year, Zheng Qinwen now needs just one more win. However, her fourth-round opponent will be world No.1 Sabalenka, who recently won her first title at Indian Wells and has entered the Miami quarterfinals without losing a set. The two have faced each eight times previously; Zheng Qinwen only secured one win in last year's Rome quarterfinals, failing to win any of their six hard court encounters, including last year's Miami quarterfinals. Facing Sabalenka in excellent form, Zheng Qinwen's path is undoubtedly challenging, but in sports there are no perpetual winners; as long as she steps onto the court, she always holds hope for victory.

In other women's singles matches, the 3rd seed Rybakina defeated the 27th seed Kostyuk 6-3/6-4, and will face qualifier Gibson in the fourth round. Gibson, continuing her excellent form from Indian Wells, defeated the 18th seed Jovic 6-2/6-2, reaching the quarterfinals back-to-back in the Sunshine Double. The 5th seed Pegula also advanced smoothly, defeating the 26th seed Fernandez 6-2/6-2, and will face the 34th seed Christian in the fourth round. The 9th seed Svitolina lost 3-6/5-7 to Baptiste and exited; Baptiste will face Ostapenko in the fourth round, the former French Open champion eliminated the 7th seed Paolini 5-7/6-2/7-5.

The 4th seed Zhang Shuai/Mertens defeated Chan Hao-ching/Zeng Li-mei 6-3/6-4, securing their first win after the Australian Open victory, and will face the local pair Brady/McNally in the women's doubles second round.

Miami Women's Singles Quarterfinal Matchups

[1] Sabalenka vs [23] Zheng Qinwen

Baptiste vs [25] Ostapenko

[3] Rybakina vs [Q] Gibson

[34] Christian vs [5] Pegula

[6] Anisimova vs [12] Bencic

Costi vs [4] Gauff

[8] Andreeva vs [10] Mboko

[13] Muchova vs [31] I. Eala

(Text, Editor/Wang Fei, Image/Visual China)