{"id":881588,"date":"2026-10-14T04:08:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T04:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/881588\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T04:08:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T04:08:23","slug":"week-in-review-zheng-returns-to-glory-and-makes-history-in-beijing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/881588\/","title":{"rendered":"Week in review: Zheng returns to glory, and makes history, in Beijing"},"content":{"rendered":"

History was made in Beijing this past week, as Zheng Qinwen<\/a> became the first Chinese player to win the China Open.<\/p>\n

It was a dream tournament for Zheng, and a career highlight. But she wasn’t the only player who shined in Beijing’s second week. A 20-year-old cemented herself as one of the brightest rising stars on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz and two players qualified for the WTA Finals for the first time. Plus, we were treated to one of the most thrilling matches of the season.<\/p>\n

Here’s everything you need to know about what went down on tour last week, and the most important takeaways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Star of the Week
\nZheng Qinwen<\/p>\n

After some time away, Zheng Qinwen has officially returned to the upper tier of the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz.<\/p>\n

Zheng won the biggest WTA title of her career, and her first since 2024, with an inspired performance in Beijing. And boy, did she earn it. In what has become a trend for the Olympic gold medalist, she won four consecutive three-setters to reach the quarterfinals, then upset sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina and 13th-seeded Elise Mertens to reach the final. She picked up another huge upset in the championship match, knocking off fourth-seeded Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 for her first WTA 1000 title.<\/p>\n

Zheng, who got into the main draw as a wild card, is the lowest-ranked player ever to win the China Open, which dates back to 1994. (There was an eight-year hiatus between 1996 and 2004.) And she did it with an incredible display of power and controlled aggression. She had 243 winners in Beijing, the most of any player at any tournament since Aryna Sabalenka’s 247 at the 2023 Australian Open. And her 51 aces trailed only Elena Rybakina’s 54 at the US Open.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the US Open, Zheng has now won 14 of her last 15 matches since the season’s last major, where she reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier.<\/p>\n

Breakthrough of the Week
\nNikola Bartunkova<\/p>\n

Coming into this tournament, 20-year-old Nikola Bartunkova had never been past the round of 16 at a WTA 1000 tournament. But the surging Czech star blew past that stage in Beijing, reaching the semifinals. She picked up the second and third Top 10 wins of her career along the way, upsetting Sabalenka in straight sets in the third round and then Karolina Muchova in the quarterfinals (more on that below).<\/p>\n

After starting the season at No. 126 in the PIF WTA Rankings, she’s now up to a career-high No. 29.<\/p>\n

Best Match of the Week
\nKarolina Muchova d. Naomi Osaka, China Open round of 16<\/p>\n

Muchova trailed by a break in both the first and third sets, but came back to outlast Naomi Osaka 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7) in a match that lasted 2 hours and 52 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Muchova trailed 4-1 in the first set and 3-1 in the decider, and failed to convert triple match point at 5-4 in the third after five missed opportunities. She had three more match points in the tiebreaker, and finally clinched the match on her ninth match point with a backhand volley winner.<\/p>\n

“I was shaking,” a relieved Muchova said after the match.<\/p>\n

Muchova triumphs over Osaka in 2:52 thriller to make Beijing quarterfinals<\/p>\n

Biggest Upset of the Week
\nNikola Bartunkova d. Karolina Muchova, China Open quarterfinals<\/p>\n

Jubilation was replaced with frustration in Muchova’s next match, a dispiriting 6-3, 6-0 loss to Bartunkova in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

As impressive as the win was for Bartunkova, what made it all the more surprising was the efficiency in which she delivered it. Bartunkova dropped just three games, including a second-set bagel, in just 67 minutes.<\/p>\n

Within 20 minutes she was up 5-0 in the opener, and after Muchova fought back to make it interesting, Bartunkova won the final seven games to close out the dominant win.<\/p>\n

Bartunkova routs Muchova in 67 minutes to make Beijing semis<\/p>\n

Biggest Mover of the Week
\nZheng Qinwen<\/p>\n

Zheng rose 31 spots in the PIF WTA Rankings, to No. 23. Andreeva, 19, rose two spots to a career-high No. 3.<\/p>\n

Social Moment of the Week
\nThe karaoke queen<\/p>\n

Biggest WTA title of her career? Check. History made on home soil? Check. Birthday week? Check. Return to the top 25? Check. Seems like as good a time as any to do some celebratory karaoke.<\/p>\n

And this wasn’t the first time Zheng has shown off her karaoke skills. Cut to the United Cup two years ago.<\/p>\n

United Cup Diary: Zheng Qinwen shows off her karaoke skills for Team China<\/p>\n

Best Shot of the Week
\nSara Bejlek’s pass down the line<\/p>\n

Sara Bejlek’s speed and anticipation are her hallmarks, and they won her this point against Osaka.<\/p>\n

Leading 4-3 in the first set, on Osaka’s serve, Bejlek returned a combination of powerful backhands and forehands before winning the point with a remarkable pass down the line.<\/p>\n

‘The mind-reader!’ Bejlek foils Osaka with superb anticipation in Beijing<\/p>\n

Must-Listen Podcast of the Week
\nEala gets deep with Sharapova<\/p>\n

Alexandra Eala was a guest on the “Pretty Tough with Maria Sharapova” podcast, and Eala discussed in great detail her relationship with perfection, navigating public opinion and managing pressure, and what makes her feel pretty and tough, among many other topics.<\/p>\n

Check out their conversation below.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Best Stat of the Week
\n15 hours<\/p>\n

Zheng’s four three-setters in seven matches, including four tiebreakers, kept her on court for 15 hours and 16 minutes. That’s the most time spent on court by any player at any tournament this year, and the most since Opta began tracking total time spent on court in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

WTA Finals Update of the Week
\nNoskova, Andreeva punch their tickets<\/p>\n

We have two more qualifiers! Andreeva and Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova have officially qualified for the WTA Finals at Indian Wells.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They will both be making their WTA Finals singles debuts. (Andreeva qualified alongside Diana Shnaider in doubles last year.)<\/p>\n

They join Sabalenka and Rybakina in the field, with four singles spots still up for grabs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"History was made in Beijing this past week, as Zheng Qinwen became the first Chinese player to win…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[99,428,1959],"class_list":["post-881588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}