Zheng Qinwen eyes birthday festivities after booking QF spot

Zheng Qinwen gave herself an early birthday present — and celebrated with thousands of her friends.

Zheng battled through her fourth consecutive three-set match at the China Open to stop No. 118 Armenian qualifier Alina Charaeva 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in the Round of 16. The victory puts the Chinese star back into her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal of the season and first on a hard court since 2025 Miami.

"I'm just really appreciated to won this match because been some ups and downs during the match honestly," Zheng said. "But at the end I'm just happy to be on court and at the end get the win 'cause everybody knows it's my last day of 23 years old. I got some pressure to handle it."

Zheng will face No. 6 seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals on Friday. The Ukrainian stalwart advanced with a 6-2, 6-3 win over American Ann Li. 

Zheng, the overwhelming fan favorite in Beijing and 2024 China Open semifinalist, turns 24 years old on Thursday. After starting her tournament by defeating Shi Han to open Golden Week, China's Golden Girl closed out the national holiday week with another signature victory. 

“I’m grateful for the crowd tonight,” Zheng said in the on-court interview after the match. “I would like to say I had a good match in the first set. The third set was tough but I came back.”

Zheng broke Charaeva to take a 3-1 lead in the third set and won 12 of 13 points over three service games to extend it to 5-2. Charaeva bounced back with a break to stay alive at 5-4, but Zheng broke back to seal the win. 

Since the Tier format’s introduction in 1990, Zheng is just the second player to win four three-setters en route to a Tier I/WTA 1000 quarterfinal, after Sara Sorribes Tormo at 2021 Miami. She defeated Shi Han 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-2 in the first round, Anna Kalinskaya 6-7 (4), 6-4, 3-0 (ret.) in the second round and Marie Bouzkova 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-5 in the third round.

Zheng, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist, is chasing her career best finish in a WTA 1000 finish. Her previous best was a runner-up finish at Wuhan in 2024.

"I hope my team prepare good birthday gift for me because I remember last year, they prepare my birthday gift the day before, which is I'm not happy about," she laughed. "You didn't take care of my birthday (smiling). This year I mention very early, so I think they got good present for me, which I'm really excited.

"Let's just focus in the tournament and we will see what the God is going to give me in my 24 years old."

The setback ends a breakout tournament run for Charaeva, who stunned newly minted No. 1 Elena Rybakina in the second round. 

By Dominic Achille