Chinanews.com, January 3rd. On January 3rd local time, the first round of women's singles was held in Adelaide, the first WTA500 event of the 2023 season.
Chinese player Zheng Qinwen fought hard in three rounds, beating the former world No. 2 and No. 6 seed Kontavit 6:1, 4:6, 7:6(7), and had a good start to the new season.
Next, she will face the winner between Azarenka and Karinina.
Image source: WTA website screenshot
In this game, Zheng Qinwen entered the state faster and took a 3:0 lead.
After Kontavit secured his serve, Zheng Qinwen showed off again and took the next set 6:1.
In the second set, Zheng Qinwen, who broke serve first, once led 3:1.
But since then, Kontaveit has made adjustments in the receiving link.
After chasing the score to a 4:4 tie, she broke serve again and finally pulled back with 6:4.
In the deciding set, the two sides had offense and defense against each other.
The game entered the tiebreaker, and Zheng Qinwen was behind in the score.
At the critical moment, she withstood the pressure. After saving the match point, she successfully fulfilled her second match point and won the game 9:7.
After getting off to a good start in his first game of the season, Zheng Qinwen gained 55 points and his immediate ranking rose to 29th.
At the same time, this is also her fifth victory in the past six times against Top20 players.
In the next round, Zheng Qinwen's opponent will be the winner between Azarenka and Kalinina.
When reviewing the game after the game, Zheng Qinwen said that he was very happy to win this victory.
"This is the first game since the long winter training. I think it is not easy. I am very happy to get this victory."
Talking about being able to beat TOP20 players in the first show of the new season, Zheng Qinwen emphasized that he wanted to focus on being himself.
"Because I know that I have the strength to beat any player. Tennis is not about whoever is stronger will win, it is more a psychological game. So I just want to focus on myself and see where I can go next." She said so.