By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Friday, November 8, 2024
Seventh-seeded Zheng Qinwen won four of the last five games fending off Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 7-5 to reach the final of the WTA Finals.
Photo credit: Robert Prange/Getty
Wimbledon winner Barbora Krejickova kicked her game into gear winning four games in a row for a second-set lead.
Zheng Qinwen didn’t press the panic button.
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Olympic gold-medal Zheng reasserted her game in extending a glittering season.
Zheng won four of the final five games vanquishing Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the WTA Finals championship match in her Riyadh debut.
In a monumental season, Zheng plays to make more history as the first Chinese woman to win the WTA Finals title match.
After rolling through nine of the first 12 games, Zheng tightened up a bit double-faulting and squandering a 6-3, 3-0 lead.
Quelling spiking nerve, Zheng reset and regained control in a one hour, 40 minute win.
WTA ace leader Zheng cracked nine aces against four double faults. The seventh-seeded Zheng improved to 50-17 on the season.
In tomorrow’s final, Zheng will face either top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, in what would be a rematch of the Australian Open final, or 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff. Zheng is winless in five meetings vs. Sabalenka, including a 6-3, 6-4 loss in Riyadh this week.
“It feels so special because this is my first WTA Final,” Zheng told Andrew Krasny afterward. “Right now, I'm just in the final. That's really unbelievable. But she's a really good player. Today, we give a really good match, especially when I was leading second set 3-0.
“I don't know what happened there, but I want to say thanks for all the support from all the fans. Thank you.”
Stamping a love hold to open, Zheng got off to an ideal start.
Across the net, an understandably antsy Krejcikova ran into immediate trouble. Krejcikova couldn’t consistently land her first serve at the start. Zheng zapped a running forehand winner and Krejcikova sailed a couple of forehands as Zheng broke for 2-0.
A shrewd mix of pace and placement empowered Zheng through her early service games. At 30-all, Zheng snapped an ace down the T then hit the heavy kick serve wide holding for 4-1.
The seventh seed slashed her seventh ace to seal the 40-minute opener. Zheng started and ended the set with love holds.
Overall, the Australian Open finalist won 16 of 17 first serve points and did not face a break point in the first set.
A crying baby in the crowd that prompted her to pause serve a couple of times was the only real issue Zheng had cruising through the opening set.
Krejcikova needed to reset but ran into a barrage of baseline drives to start the second set. Zheng, who had good success targeting the two-time major champion’s flatter forehand, switched it up driving an inside out forehand into the corner breaking to start the second set.
An unsettled Krjecikova clanked her third double fault as Zheng seized a 3-0 double-break lead in the second set.
At that point, Zheng was cruising, but Krejcikova was just starting to fire her forehand with ambition.
The Wimbledon winner broke back then hammered some heavy forehands scoring her second straight break 70 minutes into the match.
A confident Krejcikova completely flipped the script taking it to the Chinese with her fourth straight game for a 4-3 lead.
A reeling Zheng kept calm, found her first serve and regained her depth, shifting the momentum to seize control again.
“It was tricky because at three zero I think I dropped my focus,” Zheng said. “My performance goes down and then she played more free. Suddenly the match was 2-3 and then 4-3 down.
“In that moment, I’m not panicking. I said: let’s just get back my focus and start like zero-zero like nothing happen. It was a really hard match for me, but it shows I’m mentally strong in that moment.”
On her second match point, Zheng coaxed an errant forehand to close in one hour, 40 minutes.