Qinwen Zheng beamed as she thrust both hands toward a packed Diamond Court crowd, flashing two fingers on her left hand and four on her right.
Her 24th birthday came Thursday. The celebration continued Friday.
Zheng defeated world No. 7 Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 (8) to reach her second China Open semifinal, extending her birthday festivities with a victory in front of thousands of adoring fans.
When her final forehand winner landed, Zheng flung her arms into the air before collapsing to the court in jubilation.
“It’s my first day as 24 years old — and my first win,” Zheng said of the emotional displays after the victory. “I just remember today is 24 years old officially. I’m not 23 years old anymore.”
Zheng will face Belgium’s Elise Mertens in the second semifinal on Saturday. Mertens upset 2023 China Open champion Iga Swiatek 7-6 (0), 6-3 to advance to her first WTA 1000 semifinal since 2021.
Saturday's earlier semifinal will feature a battle of youngsters, as 19-year-old Roland Garros champion Mirra Andreeva takes on 20-year-old Czech Nikola Bartunkova.
Mertens faces a busy Saturday on Diamond Court, contesting the singles and doubles semifinals in back-to-back matches. Partnering with Diana Shnaider, she continues to build on an outstanding doubles résumé that includes five Grand Slam titles and two WTA Finals wins. They will face the No. 2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani.
For Zheng, the new year brings new expectations from her team.
“Right now, you’re 24, you must be more mature than before,” Zheng said of the message from her team. “I think right now you should be more smart.”
“Let’s see if I made the change.”
Actually, the answer came in how Zheng reflected on the road that brought her back to this moment.
The past two years have delivered soaring highs and punishing lows, from Olympic gold and an Australian Open runner-up finish to elbow surgery, nearly six months of recovery and rehabilitation and a slide from No. 4 in the world to No. 160.
That journey has reshaped her relationship with winning. What once felt routine now carries a deeper appreciation for the work it takes to get there.
“I used to think that winning a match is like drinking water; it is normal,” Zheng said. “But now I’m more grateful for every win because I understand how much effort I have made behind every win.”
The win was Zheng’s second Top 10 victory of the year and 13th of her career. It also sent her to her fourth career WTA 1000 semifinal, including the 2024 China Open. She is bidding to become the China Open's first homegrown finalist.
Zheng broke Svitolina three times in the opening set, setting the tone early with a break at 15 to open the match. She struck again at 5-2, chasing down a ball and firing a beautiful running forehand into the corner. She then closed out the set with another break, this time drilling a forehand winner down the line.
“I want to be a more aggressive player,” she said. “That has always been my dream and ambition. I’m really happy I have become like this over time. In previous matches, I might be relying on my consistency and errors from my opponents. Now, I seize the opportunities when I see them.”
Zheng battled back from a break down against in the second set to eventually take it to a tiebreak. Her devastating forehand proved the difference, as she hit two sizzling winners on the final two points to seal the match in 1 hour and 47 minutes.
“It was a really great win for me,” Zheng said. “I think Svitolina also played her best tennis. I’m just happy to have lot of winners during the match, and, at the end, be brave in important moments. I finished with really good winners.”
Friday’s win was the first straight-set win of this year’s China Open for Zheng. The wildcard entry became just the second player since the Tier format was introduced in 1990 to win four three-set matches enroute to a Tier I/WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
This tournament’s rocky road to the semifinals offered a fitting reflection of the past two years of Zheng’s career.
“Going through this journey, there have been many chapters. I could write many chapters,” she said. “You see the lows in the recent period. But in my junior years, there were many highs and lows. It’s been like this all the way through.
“I didn’t expect that the lows this time continued that long,” she continued. “That is why I treasure the opportunities now.”
At 24, Zheng seems to have gained a different perspective on those setbacks. The difficult stretches have taught her to look inward, confront her shortcomings and find value in the moments when everything seems to be going wrong.
“My biggest takeaway is that lows are not necessarily bad,” she said. “Being positive every day is really difficult. When I am low, I (now) have the energy to make a breakthrough. I saw the shortcomings in myself. I saw the weaknesses of my personality. The lows actually helped me improve.”
For Zheng, the next step could make history. She is the fifth Chinese player to reach the China Open semifinals, but none has advanced to the final.
Standing in her way is 30-year-old Mertens, who served efficiently and kept her errors in check to beat Swiatek, a six-time Grand Slam winner and the world’s seventh-ranked player.
"I love China, I love Beijing," Mertens said. "That's why I really want to stay a couple more days. They're very respectful. Even though they cheered a bit more for Iga today, I still felt a lot of love from the crowd.
"I'm happy to be here."
Mertens became just the second player to avoid facing a break point against Swiatek in her 185 career WTA 1000 appearances, joining Coco Gauff, who accomplished the feat in Madrid in 2025. Mertens also kept her unforced errors to just 11, while Swiatek committed 33.
The win gave Mertens 16 career Top 10 victories, including her fourth-round upset of fourth-ranked Gauff this week.
Swiatek found herself on the wrong side of tie-break history this time. Mertens blanked her in the first-set tie-break, marking the first time in Swiatek’s career she had lost 7-0. Just days earlier, Swiatek had recorded her first career tie-break shutout of an opponent, beating Donna Vekic 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2 in the third round.
"Very tight first set," Mertens said. "Great tiebreak from me.
"Then I kind of said, okay, let's try to focus on the serving games, let's try to put the pressure on a little bit. Don't get too defensive, but try to push yourself, which I did."
In doubles, top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Zhang Shuai beat Storm Hunter and Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-2 to reach the semifinals. They have conceded 14 games in their three matches so far in this year’s tournament. They will face Erin Routliffe and Aldila Sutjiadi, who defeated No. 3 seeds Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(5), 4-6 [10-7].
By Nick Mathews
Weibo@ChinaOpen
WeChat Channel
Douyin@ChinaOpen
