RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — China’s Zheng Qinwen reached the semifinals of the WTA Finals after claiming a powerful 6-1, 6-1 win over Italian fourth seed Jasmine Paolini on Wednesday.
In her WTA Finals debut, the 22-year-old grew to become the youngest participant to achieve the semifinals since Petra Kvitova in 2011.
Seventh seed Zheng fired 12 aces in a dominant efficiency, recording her thirtieth win from 34 matches since Wimbledon.
“It is top-of-the-line performances I had throughout this yr,” she mentioned on court docket.
“Actually good proportion of first serves. I loved quite a bit tonight to play right here.”
Zheng received 77% of her first-serve factors as she grew to become the second Chinese language girl to achieve the final 4 of the WTA Finals after Li Na.
“[This was] virtually 11 years in the past. I am proud I may make it,” Zheng mentioned.
“I did not know what would occur after I got here right here as a result of it is my first time. I simply advised myself to get pleasure from. Particularly as a result of I am in a very troublesome group.”
The Paris Olympic champion completed second within the purple round-robin group behind high seed Aryna Sabalenka, who secured her semifinal berth by beating Paolini 6-3, 7-5 on Monday.
In her closing group match Wednesday, the world No. 1 got here again from a set down towards fifth seed Elena Rybakina earlier than shedding to the Kazakh 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
“It was a tricky match,” Rybakina mentioned. “It is good to complete the yr with no less than one win towards the world No. 1. She has all the probabilities to win.
“Each match I performed right here was a bit higher. It isn’t straightforward after such an extended break. Right now I served very well.”
Rybakina and world No. 2 Iga Swiatek are the one gamers with a number of wins over Sabalenka in 2024.