Zheng Qinwen wins the biggest title of her career at China Open as return to WTA elite confirmed against Mirra Andreeva

A few weeks ago, Zheng Qinwen was in the qualifiers for the US Open. Now, she is the Chian Open title. The former World No.4 has overcome her prior injury concerns to win the biggest title of her career, and it was in front of a home crowd. She defeated Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4.

She is the sixth player to have won a WTA 1000 tournament as a wildcard, the first since Victoria Mboko in the 2025 Canadian Open. Zheng competed in the China Open last year as she attempted to return from an annoying elbow injury, but she was forced to retire from the event.

Months and months of her trying to find her old self, and finally she has done that. A quarter-final run at Flushing Meadows has been followed by the biggest week of her career in her home capital.

Wins over Han Shi, Anna Kalinskaya, Marie Bouzkova and Alina Charaeva were completed in three sets. She then got the better of Elina Svitolina and Elise Mertens in straight sets to set up a final showdown against Andreeva and kept her cool to win the title.

It was another productive week for Andreeva. A fifth final in 2026, but she was unable to seal a fourth title. However, the run has earned her enough points to climb to a career high ranking of third in the world, closing in on Aryna Sabalenka in second.

Nevertheless, she was unable to taste glory in the China Open. She squandered three set points before losing eight consecutive points as Zheng raced to the first set. She left it late to break before sealing it with a massive ace to become the first Chinese winner at the China Open. She was overcome with emotion at the end after making her return back to the elite.

Andreeva was competing in a fourth WTA 1000 final and looked at home despite still only being 19 years old. She took command from the off, breaking in the second game of the match to lead. However, Zheng is an experienced foe and had the crowd behind her. She broke back and showcased her intentions in this final.

What followed was six consecutive holds of serve. That was when Andreeva had her big chances. Three set points were created, none of them were taken. It would prove to be a huge blow, and Zheng made sure to compound her misery.

The former Olympic champion won the final 10 points of the set. After seeing out the latest hold to level at 5-5, she broke to love and had the chance to serve it out. She did so seemingly effortlessly to blast herself ahead in this highly anticipated final.

It went from strength to strength for Zheng who made it four games on the bounce with another break, but this time Andreeva made sure that she would not extend her lead, breaking to love in a fiery response.

The holds of serve continued with the scoreline set at 4-4. Zheng would them make her ultimate move to glory. The 24-year-old broke the Andreeva serve with a fourth break point, again leaving it late in the set to gain the upper hand.

She would serve for the match but found herself 0-30 down. Four points later, a huge ace was fired past the hapless Andreeva to seal the title. It was an emotional and poignant moment for Zheng as the Beijing crowd erupted in celebration. Four months ago, she was ranked outside the top 150. Now, she is a WTA 1000 title winner and back among the best WTA players in the world after so much hardwork and perseverance.