Qingwen Zheng reaches the WTA final by defeating Barbora Krejcikova

Qinwen Zheng played the best tennis of her life in Friday’s WTA Finals semi-final against Barbora Krejcikova. The 22-year-old athlete has had an incredible season and has not lost to anyone other than Aryna Sabalenka since the beginning of October.

Meanwhile, yesterday Krejcikova caused an epic scandal over Coco Gauff, which shook the entire tournament. The seventh and eighth seeds met on Friday, with Zheng winning the match in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.

Zheng dominated the first set, displaying a combination of power and precision. She broke Krejcikova’s serve three times. Zheng broke serve only once and hit her seventh ace in the first set to take the lead. However, Krejcikova did not disappear.

The 28-year-old fought back to take a 5-4 lead in the second set. But Krejcikova struggled with her serve, Zheng’s strength was too great. Zheng hit two aces and won the last two games in a row to finish the match in style.

Zheng said after the match: “It’s such a special feeling. This is my first WTA final and now I’m in the final. This is incredible. She’s a really good player. We showed a good match. I don’t know what happened.” when I was leading 3:0 (laughs), I want to say thank you to the fans for their support. You provided such an amazing atmosphere.”

Zheng continues to be a pioneer. She is the first Chinese woman to reach a WTA Finals final since Li Na in 2013. She is also the first Chinese woman, male or female, to win 50 matches in one season.

With today’s victory, Zheng secures her place in the final and will face either top-ranked Sabalenka or Coco Gauff on Saturday, November 9.

Tennis fans can follow Sports Illustrated. Submit to SI all the most important news from sports.