After being beaten easy by Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the 2024
Australian Open, Qinwen Zheng then faced another tough ordeal in the form of drug testing straight after her defeat as was noted by Laura Robson on Eurosport.
Zheng was defeated in just 76 minutes by Sabalenka 6-3, 6-2 in favour of the Belarusian who claimed a second Australian Open crown. But it was the achievement of the career so far for the Chinese ace who will break into the world's top 10 next week. Albeit in falling short of a first title, she lost out to a red hot Sabalenka who didn't drop a set en route to the title.
"Having just watched this clip of her walking out there, she’s off to do drug testing," Robson said on Eurosport. "So it’s not going to be an enjoyable next hour or so while she’s trying to pee into a cup. But rules are rules, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do."
Robson also added that she hopes that Qinwen Zheng sees reaching the final as a positive not a negative. "Once she gets over the disappointment of today she’ll realise she’s had an outstanding two weeks and really maybe didn’t think that she would be in the final here.
"She took advantage of a wide open top half of the draw and you just got to play who is in front of you. She didn’t play anyone in the top 50 to get to the final so I think that didn't help her tonight because it was a difference in class playing Sabalenka. But I feel like she’s got the game on the clay court to do very, very well."
Sabalenka herself agreed by heaping praise on the 21-year-old after the win. "I want to congratulate Qinwen on an incredible couple of weeks here in Australia," Sabalenka said in her victory speech. "I know this feeling, it’s really tough to lose in the finals but you’re such an incredible player, such a young girl.
"And you’re going to be in many more finals and you’re going to get it. I want to say congratulations to you and your team on an amazing job."
