The Chinese Qinwen Zheng, 7th player in the world, easily dominated the Italian Jasmine Paolini (4th) this Wednesday in Riyadh to secure her place in the semi-finals of the WTA Masters.
The Olympic champion won 6-1, 6-1 facing the finalist of Roland-Garros et Wimbledon and thus remains undefeated against Paoliniwhom she had already beaten three times. “It’s one of the best matches of my season”congratulated the winner of the match just after her victory.
Thanks to this victory obtained in 1h07, Zheng wins the second ticket for the semi-finals in the Violet group, the world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka having won his – and first place in the group – on Monday.
In the Orange group, the American Coco Gauff (3ᵉ) is also certain of her place in the last square, where she will be accompanied either by the Polish Iga Swiatek (2ᵉ) or by the Czech Barbora Krejcikova (13ᵉ), who will compete for the last ticket on Thursday afternoon.
But the ranking of the two qualifiers remains to be determined. The first of the orange group will play against Qinwen Zheng2nd in the Violet group, while the second qualifier will challenge Aryna Sabalenkaalready certain to end the year for the first time at the top of the world rankings.
This Wednesday against Paolini, Zheng relied on the power of her shots and a quality of service (12 aces) far superior to those of the Italian. In the first set, the 4th player in the world won the first game on her serve (1-0) before losing the next six to lose the set 6-1 in just 32 minutes.
Paolini had a break point in the first game of the second set, but Zheng dismissed her with a winning service. In the 4th game, the Chinese did not tremble and stole the Italian's service on her third break point (3-1).
Despite a new break point conceded by Zheng at 5-1, she saved it and concluded the second set with a final ace 6-1.
