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Zheng Qinwen played well in the quarter-finals of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open, defeating No. 1 seed Kasakina 6-1, 6-2 in just 78 minutes.
However, No. 2 seed Belinda Bencic advanced with a 7-6(5), 6-2 win over qualifier Shelby Rogers, her fifth consecutive victory over the American. Rodgers conceded just four points in her first six service games, but the Swiss took control after Bencic was more consistent in the tie-break.
emphasize: Bencic D. Rogers
Here are the key takeaways from Zheng’s performance.
The results continue Zheng’s upward trend: The 20-year-old won her third career top-10 finish after beating Ons Jabeur in Toronto in 2022 and Paula Badosa in Tokyo. The result puts Chung into her third tour semi-final and second in the WTA 500 class after reaching the final in Tokyo last September.
Mr. Zheng’s trajectory is still rising rapidly. At this time 12 months ago, she was just breaking into the top 100; now, she’s a solid top 30 player at No. 29. But a deep performance in Abu Dhabi did shake off a slightly disappointing result at the Australian Open, where she lost to Bernarda Pera in the second round.
Zheng demonstrated multi-pronged excellence: As always, first-strike power is the cornerstone of the game for Chinese players. She tallied 25 winners, including four Aces, to Kasatkina’s eight. Two fiery forehand winners were also key to building a double-break lead in the second set.
But Zheng also showed a wider repertoire, and more and more ways to earn a point. Once there, she showed eagerness to get to the net and clean execution, even finding success with serve volleys and returns for the net. A pair of perfect shots also added energy to a power play.
Tactically, Zheng is also sharp. As Kasatkina tried to pull her into longer rallies, Zheng was content to patiently trade heavy topspin before winning. Concerned about Kasatkina’s ability on the run, Zheng provoked mistakes by injecting speed suddenly into his feet.
Zheng’s scoreboard management is excellent: As the score showed, Kasatkina seemed to be a threat to win the game very rarely. But that’s largely due to Zheng’s iron-fisted control focused on maintaining momentum.
Even simple games can contain potential twists, but Zheng has raised the bar almost every time. She saved the only two break points she faced in the first set with an irretrievable serve and made it 3-0 with a kick-off volley. Serving at 4-1 in the second set, she played one of the highest quality games of the game, withstood everything Kasatkina threw at her and saved another break point with a powerful forehand.
Serving for the game, Zheng blocked the break point with another forehand winner. After failing to win her first match point after being denied by the referee, she showed excellent reflexes to convert her second, chasing down a Kasatkina lob and finishing with a high volley winner.
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