Zheng Qinwen, a 20-year-old Chinese teenager, entered the top 8 of the Grand Slam for the first time.AFP
【Zhan Jianjian／Comprehensive report】One day after the defending champion Iga Swiatek withdrew early in the top 16 of the US Open, the 20-year-old Chinese teenager Zheng Qinwen defeated the No. 5 seeds, last year’s US Open runner-up Ons Jabeur (Ons Jabeur) entered the top 8 of the US Open for the first time in his career, and became the fourth player in Chinese tennis!
Zheng Qinwen, No. 23 in the world, is the fourth Chinese woman in the Open Era (since 1968) to enter the top 8 of the US Open singles. The top three are Li Na (2009 8 and 2013 4), Peng Shuai (2014 2019 top 4) and Wang Qiang (2019 top 8).
The world’s No. 5 Abdul-Jabbar has a decisive experience advantage in the game. He has entered the top 8 of the Grand Slam six times before, and entered the top 8 twice this season (French Open top 8, Wimbledon runner-up). But for two weeks, she has been battling the disease. Her previous three fights had all lasted at least two hours.
Although Zheng Qinwen has never reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam before, he will be coached by experienced coach Wim Fissette (Wim Fissette, who has helped Klijster Kim Clijsters, Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber win Grand Slams. She has been enjoying strong form since joining her team. The two players have only met once before in Toronto in 2022. But Kareem retired early in the second set due to abdominal pain, and Zheng Qinwen easily won the first set 1-6.
From the beginning of the round of 16 at the US Open today, the occasion did not seem to scare Zheng Qinwen. She remained aggressive, dominating the game with hard, straight shots and breaking serve first in the third game. She then broke serve again in the fifth game with two incredible return winners. Although Kareem managed to pull back a game in the 6th game, she was broken three times in the 7th game. Zheng Qinwen won the first set 6-2.
Initially, the second set looked like it would be a repeat of the first set, with Cheng breaking serve immediately in the first game and breaking serve in a 20-beat endurance match in the process. But then two double faults were broken back, and at one point in the third game the audience seemed to feel the turn of the game, as Kareem held her serve for the first time since the first game of the first set. Zheng Qinwen, however, did not allow the game to take this turn. She won seven points in a row — many of which came from some unforced errors on Kareem’s racket — and earned three break point chances, breaking serve twice.
Then in the 7th game, he broke serve three times and achieved a 5-2 absolute advantage. Although Jabbar successfully broke a game in the 8th game and resolved a match point in the 9th game; Started with a 40-0 lead, then dropped the next two points. Fortunately, she didn’t waste the 3rd match point, Kareem’s last ball into the net, and finally lost the game 4-6.
Zheng Qinwen (right) defeated last year’s US Open runner-up Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.AFP
“Now I’m very happy and excited to be able to play in a big stadium and have a very good performance,” Zheng Qinwen said after the game. It was an impressive win for me.”
Zheng Qinwen and Coco Gauff — the youngest players in the world’s top 40 — are now both in the quarter-finals of the 2023 US Open. Cheng next faces the winner of second seed (and future world number one) Aryna Sabalenka and Daria Kasatkina. Earlier this year, she easily beat Kasatkina 6-1, 6-2 in Abu Dhabi.
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2023-09-05 04:52:30
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