Qinwen Zheng seals maiden WTA title with Palermo Ladies Open victory over Jasmine Paolini

Chinese ace, Qinwen Zheng finally has her maiden career title on the sight of her first main draw win at the Palermo Ladies Open.

Zheng saw off home hope, Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. She becomes the 11th Chinese woman to win a WTA singles title joining her compatriot Zhu Lin as the second winner of the season.

Despite inexperience on clay, she has played some of her best tennis on the surface reaching the Last 16 at Roland Garros and now seals her first title.

She came out of the blocks breaking Paolini twice to build a 3-0 lead. She did not face a break point from 3-1 for the rest of the set.

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It was Paolini's turn though to dominate coming through the longest game of the match to break at 3-0. She added a second breaks when Zheng double faulted and took the match into a decider.

But Zheng quickly put it behind her breaking early in the decider and served for the title at 5-1. Despite misfiring on the first two championship points, she eventually got over the line.

She joins teenage lucky loser Maria Timofeeva in winning a maiden title today.

Albeit the 19-year-old who won in Budapest was in her first main draw appearance of her career.

She took down Kateryna Baindl in the final and joins Coco Gauff in doing so last four years ago as a 15-year-old in Linz.

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🔥 First Career Title 🔥 Qinwen Zheng defeats Paolini 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in Palermo. 🏆 #PLO23

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