Qinwen Zheng advances to semifinal after thrilling three-set victory over Mirra Andreeva

No. 5 seed Qinwen Zheng defeated No. 17 seed Mirra Andreeva in an electrifying 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 China Open quarterfinal victory, becoming the first Chinese semifinalist in Beijing since 2018. It was Zheng’s second come-from-behind win of the tournament, after she rallied to beat Amanda Anisimova in the previous round.

With the win, Zheng reached her first-ever WTA 1000 semifinal. Despite the ups and downs of the match, she’s excited for the opportunity to carry the Chinese flag further into the tournament.

“There is always extra motivation to play in China because I know all the crowd, they are coming for me,” Zheng said in a press conference afterward. “I'm just happy to be in the semifinal.”

The match featured dramatic shifts of momentum that captivated the Diamond Court crowd. In the end, it was the 21-year-old Zheng who came out on top, as she showcased her consistency and confidence throughout the match.

“Today in the match, there were a lot of up and downs. I feel if it's not in China Open, this match could be more trickier than that,” Zheng said, smiling.

Andreeva opened the match authoritatively, winning the first four games. As her opponent continually made unforced errors, Andreeva dominated the early rallies. However, Zheng quickly announced herself in the match, winning four straight points in the fifth game to break Andreeva’s serve. Zheng started a streak of her own with this win, taking the next four games and putting herself up 5-4. Andreeva regained her footing in the next game, breaking serve again to even the set. The 17-year-old appeared to have her confidence back. She held serve in the next game and then capitalized on her opponent’s sixth double-fault to break her serve and win the set.

In the second set, the opening game went to three deuces before Zheng finally broke serve to go up 1-0. This time, though, the audience favorite didn’t look back. Zheng went on an absolute tear, outsmarting her opponent in every way. She found the corners that she was missing during the first set and forced continual errors out of Andreeva. Zheng exuded confidence as her opponent visibly became frustrated, and game after game went Zheng’s way. In the sixth game she hit a well-placed service winner to win the set at 6-0.

The two players could barely be separated as the third set got underway. Andreeva, seemingly having put her frustration behind her, won the first game and broke serve in the second game at love. However, Zheng took advantage of a rare Andreeva double-fault and broke serve in the next game. The players held serve until the sixth game, when Andreeva quickly broke Zheng’s serve to return to a two-game lead. Again, Zheng battled back, breaking her opponent’s serve in the seventh game to bring the set to 3-4. At this point, Zheng let her emotions show as she went all-out for every point. The crowd responded, roaring in support of Zheng after each point she won. This seemed to give Zheng the energy she needed, and she took the next three games to seal the deal.

“At the beginning of the match I'm trying to be calmer,” Zheng said. “But after what I see with my tennis today, I said, I'm not going to win today by my tennis, I'm going to win today by my mentality.”

Zheng will face World No. 49 unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in the semifinals on Saturday. The two have split their two previous meetings.

—Reporting by Reade Snelling