Zheng Qinwen laughs off wardrobe blunder at Pan Pacific Open

Zheng Qinwen experienced a hilarious moment at the Pan Pacific Open after forgetting to remove the clothing tag upon entering the court. In fact, the Chinese tennis player didn’t notice until her opponent, Moyuka Uchijima, pointed it out during the official photo at the net.

The 22-year-old is the first seed in Tokyo and had a bye in the first round, making her debut against the Japanese player. Without much trouble, Zheng defeated Uchijima 7-5, 6-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals, where she will meet Leylah Fernandez (8th seed).

The Paris 2024 gold medallist had entered the court with the tag on her back. Once Uchijima pointed it out, Zheng took it humorously and removed the tag while walking to start her warm-up with the balls. After removing it, she handed it to a ball kid, drawing a smile from Uchijima.

Later in the match, the Japanese player managed to challenge Zheng during the first set and kept things level at 5-5. From there, Zheng dominated, winning the next eight games in a row and securing the 7-5, 6-0 victory in one hour and 18 minutes.

Zheng will be back on the court this Friday in an exciting clash against the 2021 US Open runner-up, Leylah Fernandez. The two recently faced off at the Wuhan Open, where the Canadian took a tight first set but couldn’t maintain her level against the current world No. 7. The match ended 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 in Zheng’s favor, but the most striking moment came when Zheng had a confrontation with Leylah Fernandez’s father, Jorge, who is also her coach.

The Chinese player angrily confronted him, which visibly upset Leylah during the match. “I was distracted in the first set by what [Fernandez's father] was saying because Leylah was on the other side. He kept saying 'C'mon, c'mon,' before I started to return,” Zheng later told the Chinese press.