"I will be on my best, like what I did last time" - Qinwen Zheng ready for Leylah Fernandez rematch after heated encounter in Wuhan
WTA
It will be the second time in two weeks when Zheng Qinwen takes on Leylah Fernandez at the Pan Pacific Open on Friday, after the duo clashed in a spicy affair at the Wuhan Open earlier this month.
The 2024 Australian Open finalist defeated Japan's Moyuka Uchijima in their opening round encounter in Tokyo, scoring a 7-5 6-0 victory over the hometown favorite. The top-seeded Zheng will now take on former US Open runner-up Fernandez in a highly-anticipated rematch, following the duo's intense battle in Wuhan two weeks ago.
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Zheng and Fernandez share tense moment in Wuhan
The duo clashed in the round of 16 when they met in Wuhan earlier this month, with Zheng emerging victorious. However, things got tense during the match when Zheng, who was playing at the end of the court where Fernandez’s team was sitting, turned to the Canadian’s father and asked if he could keep his voice down. The Chinese star claimed he was talking before she was due to return serve. This caught Fernandez’s attention and she asked Zheng to “be respectful”.
Although the match continued without incident, there duo shared an awkward handshake at the net. Nonetheless, Zheng appears to have put the matter behind her, as she seemed complimentary towards her Canadian opponent ahead of their quarterfinal clash in Tokyo.
“I’ll try and give my best and let’s see,” said Zheng. “Next round I play against a great opponent. I just played against her in Wuhan and it was a tough match, so I just have to fight.
“I think she’s a really good player, and she has a different game style compared to the others. She takes the ball really early, so you don’t have too much time between the shots. You always have to be alert, and it’s not easy to play against her. But next time I will be on my best, like what I did last time."
“I think she’s a really good player, and she has a different game style compared to the others. She takes the ball really early, so you don’t have too much time between the shots. You always have to be alert, and it’s not easy to play against her. But next time I will be on my best, like what I did last time."
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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