Chinese Qinwen Zheng secured her first victory at the WTA finals in Riyadh by winning 7-6 (4), 3-6 and 6-1 against Kazakh Elena Rybakina, in a clash between two losers on the first day.
Rybakina therefore complicates her future in the tournament, which she reached thanks to an outstanding first part of the season (3 titles), but with only three matches played and one winner since Wimbledon.
Zheng started and finished the match in style, with an intermediate break allowing his rival to score a set.
The Chinese, seventh in the WTA, lost a 4-1 lead and opened the possibility for Rybakina (5) to balance the first set 4-4. There was no break and the set went to a tiebreaker, with Zheng taking a 4-1 lead and managing the margin.
The break in favor of the Chinese player, current Olympic champion, came at 3-2 in the second set, Rybakina answered immediately, and twice. The third set would decide the match, which went to Zheng with total superiority: 6-1, without any chance for the Kazakh.
On the opening day, Zheng fell to the world number one, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, and Rybakina to one of the revelations of this season, the Italian Jasmine Paolini.
A victory for Sabalenka against Paolini in Monday’s other match would eliminate Rybakina.
Zheng, who started the year as a finalist in Australia, in addition to being the champion of the Paris Games, is coming off a great Asian tour. Last week she won the Tokyo tournament and last week she lost to Sabalenka in three sets in the Wuhan final.
Source: La Verdad
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