Qinwen Zheng is back. After 88 days away since undergoing surgery on her right elbow, No. 7 seed Zheng made her return to the WTA Tour by defeating Emiliana Arango 6-3, 6-2 in front of a sold-out Diamond Court crowd on Saturday, Sept. 27. Zheng will face No. 26 seed Linda Noskova of Czechia in the third round. Zheng leads the series 2-0.
Zheng’s last match before surgery was at Wimbledon on July 1, when she went out in the first round against Katerina Siniakova. Later that month, Zheng announced her successful arthroscopic surgery procedure on social media, saying she had been dealing with persistent elbow pain for months. She subsequently withdrew from the U.S. Open. Amid social media noise and advice from her team, Zheng said she decided to make her return at the China Open because she had progressed far enough in her recovery to compete.
“I know that fans are not really trying to urge me to come back. It is me. I miss competition. I miss the crowd.” Zheng said in a post-match press conference.
Zheng made history at the Paris Olympics in August 2024 when she became the first Chinese player to win a singles Olympic gold medal. The 22-year-old has been a prominent figure in the tour, making a final appearance at the 2024 Australian Open and quarterfinals appearances at the U.S. Open and Roland Garros. She reached last year’s WTA Final in Riyadh, losing the Championship match to Coco Gauff in three sets. Zheng also reached the semifinals of last year’s China Open and is only the second Chinese player to reach the top 5 in the WTA, achieving a World No. 4 rank in June.
Stepping back onto the court, Zheng took control of the match and dictated the tempo of play early on. She frequently approached the net to close out points aggressively, breaking Arango’s serve in Game 2 with a close-range smash. Despite her confident approaches and attacking gameplan, Zheng showed signs she wasn’t fully sharp. She double-faulted twice to lose the fourth game and missed multiple opportunities to finish points throughout the set.
Zheng said after the match she had not fully completed her recovery, noting that she was playing at 70 to 80 percent of where she would like to be.
“My serve wasn't really reaching the speed I want,” Zheng said. “If I recover more, I can increase my speed. I think that's the rest of the 20 percent I’m working on.”
Ahead 3-1, Zheng broke serve again and held serve to take the first set 6-3, dominating rallies, stretching her opponent across the court and painting the corners with precise line shots. Zheng continued this imposing play into the second set, and took a 6-2 win to close out the match. The Diamond Court crowd raucously stood behind Zheng at each point.
“Coming here to the China Open really depends on the support of the fans because my team wasn't really supporting me in playing this tournament,” Zheng said. “In every training session, I see those fans and I said, ‘I really want to play in front of these people.’”
—Reporting by Luca Giordano
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