Wuhan Open 2024: Zheng Qinwen To Face Wang Xinyu In First All-Chinese WTA 1000 Semi-Final

Zheng overcame Wimbledon and French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini 6-2 3-6 6-3 in the last eight of the Wuhan Open

Updated on: 11 October 2024 9:02 pm

Zheng Qinwen celebrates after converting match point against Jasmine Paolini

World number seven Zheng Qinwen will face Wang Xinyu in the first all-Chinese semi-final at a WTA 1000 event on Saturday, following the duo's quarter-final victories on Friday. (More Tennis News)

Zheng overcame Wimbledon and French Open runner-up Jasmine Paolini 6-2 3-6 6-3 in the last eight of the Wuhan Open, teasing several errors out of the Italian in the deciding set of a big-hitting encounter.

She has now won more matches since the end of Wimbledon (23) than any other player on the WTA Tour, and her next opponent will be compatriot Wang.

Wang came through a gruelling encounter with Ekaterina Alexandrova earlier on Friday, saving two match points en route to a 4-6 6-4 7-6 (8-6) victory.

Among players to have played 10 or more matches in China in the 21st century, Coco Gauff has the highest winning percentage in events played in the country (91.7%, 11-1). - null

WTA Wuhan Open 2024: Coco Gauff Breezes Past Viktoriya Tomova In Opener

BY Stats Perform

Making her first WTA 1000 semi-final, the world number 51 is the second-lowest ranked player to ever reach that stage in Wuhan.

The winner of Saturday's tie will take on either Aryna Sabalenka or Coco Gauff in the final, with both players bidding to become the first Chinese player to go all the way at the tournament.

15 - Only Svetlana Kuznetsova (17) has taken fewer matches than Qinwen Zheng (18, level with Serena Williams and Aryna Sabalenka) to achieve 15 WTA-level match wins on Chinese soil. Comfort.#wuhanopen | @wuhanopentennis @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/fzamSTJFik
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 11, 2024

Data Debrief: Rare home contest in the offing

Since the inception of WTA 1000 events in 2009, only two local pairs have met in a semi-final match in the format, ahead of Zheng and Wang becoming the third this weekend.

Serena and Venus Williams faced off in Miami in 2009, while Madison Keys and Sofia Kenin battled it out in the final four of the 2019 Cincinnati Open.