Unseeded Zheng wins her home China Open, ranked 54

54. That is Qinwen Zheng's ranking, and it did not stop her winning the China Open. The unseeded 24-year-old beat world No. 5 Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 in Beijing on Sunday, her first title since Tokyo in 2024, and she did it at home.

The serve numbers say this should not have happened. Zheng landed only 38% of her first serves to Andreeva's 71%, and she was out-aced 7 to 2. What she did instead was return: she won 44% of return points to Andreeva's 34%, and 36% of return games to 20%. She converted 4 of her 8 break points, while Andreeva converted 2 of 6, and Zheng finished with 70 points to 61 overall. When she did land a first serve she won 76% of those points.

Both sets turned on late breaks. In the first, Andreeva broke for 2-0, Zheng broke straight back for 2-1, then broke again to lead 6-5 and served the set out 7-5. In the second, Zheng broke for 1-0, Andreeva broke back for 1-1, and Zheng broke once more to lead 5-4 before serving it out 6-4. There were no tiebreaks, and Zheng needed just one match point.

Her first four matches all went to a third set. On the way to the final Zheng beat four seeds: Anna Kalinskaya, Marie Bouzkova, world No. 7 Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinal, and Elise Mertens in the semifinal. Andreeva, the No. 4 seed, was the fifth. It is her sixth tour title and her first since Tokyo in 2024, after a 2026 that had brought no titles until now. Andreeva, 19, won Roland Garros this year and arrived with a 50-15 season record. Zheng now leads their head-to-head 2-0, having also beaten Andreeva in the 2024 Beijing quarterfinal.

Match tale, 11 October 2026, sources: Beijing, api-tennis