Zheng Qinwen Makes History in Beijing as China Open Triumph Completes Remarkable Comeback

The Olympic champion defeats Mirra Andreeva to become the first Chinese singles winner at the China Open, claiming her maiden WTA 1000 title after a difficult battle with injury.

Zheng Qinwen has achieved plenty in her young career, but few victories will carry quite the same personal significance as the one she secured in Beijing on Sunday evening.

Playing in front of her home crowd, the 24-year-old defeated fourth seed Mirra Andreeva 7–5, 6–4 in one hour and 43 minutes to become the first Chinese player to win the China Open singles title.

It was Zheng’s first WTA 1000 championship, her sixth career singles title and her first tournament victory since Tokyo in 2024. However, there is more to the story than just those numbers.

Having spent much of the previous year and early 2026 struggling with an elbow injury, Zheng arrived in Beijing ranked world No. 54 and needing a wild card to enter the tournament. She departs as its champion, having defeated one of the tour’s leading young players in a final that required both patience and considerable nerve.

A final decided under pressure

Andreeva, the reigning French Open champion, arrived in the final in impressive form. The 19-year-old had won her previous five matches in Beijing without dropping a set and was attempting to claim another major title in a season that had already established her among the game’s elite.

She began confidently, breaking Zheng’s serve to move ahead 2–0 in the opening set. Zheng recovered, but the decisive moment came with the Chinese player serving at 4–5.

Facing three set points, Zheng refused to surrender the initiative. She held serve, broke Andreeva in the following game and completed an extraordinary sequence of 11 consecutive points to take the set 7–5.

It was a stunning reversal. Andreeva had been within a point of taking the opener, only to find herself trailing after Zheng produced her best tennis at precisely the right moment.

The second set was similarly competitive. After exchanging early breaks, neither player could establish a decisive advantage until the ninth game, when Zheng broke serve to move ahead 5–4.

Serving for the championship, she completed the victory with an ace, prompting celebrations inside Beijing’s National Tennis Center.

Andreeva acknowledged afterwards that Zheng’s serving had been particularly difficult to handle, while admitting she had struggled to find the right balance between aggression and consistency on return.

From injury setbacks to a historic championship

The significance of Zheng’s victory becomes obvious when we look at the difficulties she has experienced since her breakthrough 2024 season.

That year, she reached the Australian Open final, won Olympic singles gold in Paris and finished the season among the world’s leading players. It seemed anything was possible for her.

An elbow injury subsequently interrupted that momentum, forcing her to miss substantial periods of competition. Her attempted return at the 2025 China Open ended particularly painfully when she retired from her match against Linda Noskova.

The following season brought further frustration. Zheng’s ranking fell as low as No. 160 during 2026, a remarkable decline for a player who had previously reached world No. 4.

Returning to Beijing as a wild card, she faced a tricky route through the draw.

Her opening four matches all went to deciding sets, including victories over Anna Kalinskaya, Marie Bouzkova and Alina Charaeva. She then defeated sixth seed Elina Svitolina 6–3, 7–6(6) in the quarter-finals before overcoming 13th seed Elise Mertens 7–5, 6–2 to reach the final.

The semi-final victory was itself historic. Before Zheng’s breakthrough, Chinese players had lost all seven of their previous China Open singles semi-finals.

Reflecting on the significance of competing in Beijing, Zheng told the WTA after defeating Mertens:

It’s like the fifth Grand Slam for me.”

It was a revealing description of the importance she attaches to the tournament. Winning a title at home, with the expectations of an entire tennis nation behind her, represented an achievement she had pursued for years.

A victory that changes the conversation

Zheng’s success was remarkable not only for its emotional significance but also for the statistical records it established.

According to the WTA, she became the first wild card to win the China Open singles championship since the tournament’s 2004 relaunch, as well as the lowest-ranked champion during that period.

She also became the first player since the introduction of the Tier I tournament category in 1990 to win a Tier I or WTA 1000 title after dropping 78 games across the tournament.

That figure illustrates just how demanding her campaign had been. Rather than cruising through the draw, Zheng was repeatedly forced to recover, adjust and survive difficult matches.

Her victory over Andreeva was also the 14th top-10 win of her career and her third of 2026.

Speaking to the media after the final, Zheng reflected on the doubts surrounding her recovery.

“When I was at the lowest moment, everyone was saying I couldn’t come back.”

She added that she had rediscovered her competitive motivation after a prolonged period of disappointment.

“I am just so grateful that I found the inside fire back.”

For Zheng, the title offered something more valuable than a ranking improvement. It provided tangible evidence that the player who had captured Olympic gold and challenged for Grand Slam titles was capable of returning to the highest level.

What comes next for Zheng and Andreeva?

The championship is expected to lift Zheng back inside the world’s top 30 when the updated WTA rankings are published, a substantial recovery from her mid-season position.

There is also plenty of encouragement for Andreeva despite Sunday’s defeat.

The Russian is projected to rise to a career-high world No. 3, becoming the third-youngest player this century to reach that position for the first time, behind Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters.

Her run to the Beijing final continued an exceptional season, although Zheng exposed some of the difficulties that can arise when Andreeva is forced to take greater risks against powerful opponents.

Both players are scheduled to compete at the Wuhan Open, where attention will turn to whether Zheng can maintain her momentum and continue climbing the rankings.

For now, however, Beijing belongs to Zheng.

Two years after her Olympic triumph and following a prolonged period in which injury threatened to derail her progress, she has delivered another landmark achievement for Chinese tennis.

This time, she accomplished it at home.

Continue Reading

• The WTA Tour Explained — How the women’s professional tennis circuit operates.
• WTA 1000 Tournaments Explained — Why Beijing ranks among the most prestigious events outside the Grand Slams.
• Tennis Ranking Points Explained — How major tournament results influence a player’s world ranking.
• Protected Rankings in Tennis Explained — How ranking protection works for players returning from lengthy absences.