Reversal and victory over former world No. 1 Halep
Zheng Qinwen: Advance to the top 32 women's singles at the French Open
On May 26, local time, in the second round of women's singles at the 2022 French Open, 19-year-old Chinese player Zheng Qinwen successfully reversed after losing a set and defeated the former French Open champion 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. , Halep, the two-time Grand Slam winner, advanced to the top 32 in the women's singles.
This year's French Open is Zheng Qinwen's second Grand Slam tournament in his career.
After defeating Zanewska in the first round, Zheng Qinwen faced the biggest challenge of his career - former world number one and Grand Slam winner Halep.
This is the fourth time Zheng Qinwen has played against the top 20 players. She has failed to win the previous three times.
At the beginning of the game, Zheng Qinwen made 2 double faults in the first game. Halep quickly expanded his lead after breaking serve, and only made 4 active mistakes to win the first set.
The game with two wins in three games allowed Zheng Qinwen to completely put down his burden. As the number of his active mistakes decreased, Halep gradually fell behind in the stalemate.
After Halep broke serve first, Zheng Qinwen refused to give an inch of serve in the subsequent opponent's serve game.
After nearly 10 minutes of competition between the two, the Chinese teenager successfully broke through the opponent.
Since then, Zheng Qinwen has gained momentum in terms of state and physical fitness, winning 5 games in a row and winning the second set.
In the deciding set, when Zheng Qinwen broke the tie to open the 3-0 advantage, Halep, who has always been known for his physical fitness and defense, was unable to run.
After losing eight innings, Halep was admitted to the field twice by doctors.
Zheng Qinwen did not mess up the rhythm because of this, and took the final victory in his pocket.
This is undoubtedly the best game of Zheng Qinwen's career.
Facing defensive master Halep, Zheng Qinwen's offensive firepower worked, scoring 27 winning points in the audience, three times that of Halep.
So far, Zheng Qinwen has won the first victory against the top 20 players in his career and reached the top 32 of the women's singles in the Grand Slam for the first time.
After Zheng Qinwen defeated Halep, he also made Halep's previous record of 10 consecutive victories against mainland Chinese players obsolete.
Previously, only Li Na and Zhang Shuai had beaten Halep at Wimbledon, Australian Open and China Open respectively.
This is the fourth time that the former world No. 1 has lost to China Jinhua in his career, and it is also the first time that he has lost to a Chinese player on the clay court.
Zheng Qinwen was born in Shiyan, Hubei in October 2002. Not only does she have a tenacious playing style similar to Li Na, but she also learns from many Li Na's mentors.
When she was 7 years old, she learned ball with Li Na's enlightenment coach Xia Xiyao, and a year later she learned from Li Na's provincial team coach Yu Liqiao.
Due to his outstanding performance, Zheng Qinwen also entered Beijing's Ingenuity Wheel Tennis School and studied under Li Na's former coach Carlos.
In recent seasons, Zheng Qinwen has been honing her skills in overseas ITF events. In the past three years, her year-end ranking has climbed all the way, from 649 to 324 to 143. After winning this game, Zheng Qinwen's instant ranking has reached 65th. bit.
In the third round, Zheng Qinwen will compete with the host player Kene for the top 16 seat of the French Open.
Text / reporter Chu Peng