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Qinwen Zheng

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Olympics News: China’s Qinwen Zheng def. The Queen of Clay Iga Swiatek in straight sets en route to an Olympic Women’s Tennis Final

by Sports Benches

The Queen of Clay from Poland Iga Swiatek won’t be able to add another major honour other than her successive Roland Garros trophies in the Olympics gold medal this time around following her straight sets loss in the women’s singles semi-final v China’s Qinwen Zheng, who was also runner-up at the 2024 Australian Open Final back in January to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, 2-6 & 5-7. She didn’t have a great start earlier on and although she did the best possible to keep that semi alive so Iga can activate that 3rd set decider, but it wasn’t meant to be when Zheng found a way to shut her down towards the end.

I don’t know when the next Olympics tennis tournament will be on clay but probably not for another long while like for a few decades unfortunately in which she may be well and truly reaching retirement by then. What she can do though is at least finish off on a high when it comes to the Bronze Medal Match this weekend v the losing player from the other semi-final.

We’ll see how that goes between Anna Karolina Schmiedlova from Slovakia v Croatian Donna Vekic who defeated NZ’s Lulu Sun during the Wimbledon Quarter-Final last month.

And how good was Qinwen Zheng with that magnificent performance in the hope of now winning her first major title that may not be a grand slam honour just yet but at least a Olympic Games Gold Medal would be nice to take home. She had an easy first set and while she had some challenges along the way that is going to make or break when being tested against the Queen of Clay (Iga Swiatek), she too never gave up with plenty of fight to hold Iga back and that was one thing Zheng pulled off well by seeing light at the end of the tunnel on what has been another of her best plays today. Now she’s ready to bring home an Olympics gold medal for China which she could be the first one to do so as a singles player and the last time China won a medal in Tennis was Li Ting & Sun Tiantian during the women’s doubles tournament exactly 20 years back in Athens.

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AO Open Tennis, Aryna Sabalenka goes back-to-back with the Championship win this time in straight sets against China’s Qinwen Zheng

by Sports Benches

The 2024 Australian Open Women’s singles final is now done and dusted with one more match to go for tonight’s men’s singles final before the 15-day competition is over between Jannik Sinner v Daniil Medvedev as Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka is your champion once again after she got the job done without having to drop a set against Qinwen Zheng with the win at Rod Laver Arena. Sabalenka had an amazing performance all around & commiserations to Zheng who gained a little here & there as of late but then the standard was just too much for her to catch up in the end. The final score was 3-6 & 2-6 being done in almost 90 minutes of play. This is Sabalenka’s 2nd straight Australian Open trophy & although she will still be World No.2 behind Iga Swiatek, the search is now on to win the other majors after falling short at the 2023 US Open to Coco Gauff (USA).

First of all, Zheng finally got the ball rolling from behind where she did her best to hold back Sabalenka following a poor start of the match. If she did give herself some time with the early headstart, then she would be in a fair shot to try and bring home another Australian Open trophy for China since Li Na last did that just 10 years ago. But she still could not exploit all of Sabalenka’s weaknesses where Zheng fell way behind as the game does on despite denying her a few Championship points when Zheng unfortunately did not have the chance to bridge her best 2nd half form & finish things off her way in defeat. She had a great last few months of Tennis as Zheng is age 22 with loads of potential to fulfill at World No.7 in the singles rankings.

Meanwhile, it’s been another amazing win from the Belarusian who is now a 2 x Australian Open women’s singles champion this time without having to lose a set and also without too much fuss v Zheng unlike Elina Rybakina last year. She was so quick to get off the mark which was huge so she can take her time to bridge the other half form while Zheng showed a bit of fightback here & there, but Sabalenka didn’t need to throw her game away and that is exactly she has done to bring home another grand slam major with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup to her silverware cabinet. As said, the game is on for Sabalenka to win both another grand slam title or two or even three where she always fell short other than some usual good performances from the 1st round to the knockout stages as well as being the World No.1 singles player again off Swiatek.

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2024 AO Tennis, women’s singles semi-final night review being done in straight sets with Sabalanka v Zheng now set for tomorrow night’s main event match at Rod Laver Arena

by Sports Benches

Time flies so fast but the Australian Open women’s semi finals night was all done as tomorrow’s last two challengers line-up is now set for the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy at Rod Laver Arena. Coco Gauff fell short both ways earlier on but defending champion Aryna Sabalanka didn’t lose her game at all by booking herself in another Final by in straight sets (6-7 with 2-7 tiebreak & 4-6). Then it was a battle for the first timers and same thing happened to Dayana Yastremska with the early pace form as that 2nd semi match was dominated by China’s Quinwen Zheng also in straight sets (4-6 & 4-6). Now the men’s semi-finals will roll out throughout today with Novak Djokovic v Jannik Sinner in the afternoon followed by Daniil Medvedev v Alexander Zverev at night.

Looks like Gauff has almost got it after a poor start she closed herself in towards the opening set. But not so fast when she just could not hold stop a patient Sabalenka in her tracks before Gauff was unable to bring a 3rd set decider also after falling short again in the 2nd set. She will get better with experience as this is her 2nd grand slam knockout finals match & the first outside USA. Sabalanka on the other hand will get another chance to hopefully take home the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy for the second time tomorrow night on what has been a tremendous win last night the opponent she lost at the US Open Final a few months ago. She was outstanding all along where Sabalanka fired off comfortably before she eventually found her opponent’s weaknesses while Gauff caught up as the game goes on & then tricks her during each and every stage, which is exactly she wants to do to set the benchmark for AO title win No.2 v Zheng.

Speaking of Zheng, the 21-year-old Chinese player will now be playing in first grand slam final as Li Na has last done so here back in 2014 with the big win v Lucie Safarova. She simply found a way to get the ball rolling to win the other half form that Yastremska couldn’t do after a slow start before Zheng didn’t hesitate to lose her game where she found the finish line first for the win. And Yastremska’s time is now over after a great fairytale run from the bottom up prior to this at Melbourne Park, having got a strong build up base to get off the mark including an improved 2nd set performance. But unfortunately, she wasn’t quite close as she hoped for when it comes to the execution, which is a key area she has struggled v Zheng. Let’s hope she can continue to inspire more with a consistent last 16/8 run from here.

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2024 AO Open Tennis, 2nd half of Quarter-Final matches review with back-to-back long sets as well as first time moments in the women’s singles ahead of the semis tonight

by Sports Benches

It was a huge day of Tennis yesterday on what has been a great end to the 2nd half of the Austtalian Open Quarter-Final matches at Rod Laver Arena with back-to-back long spells for the men while there’s some first time breakthrough moments ahead of tonight’s semi-finals in the women’s singles draw followed by a day of the men’s portion on Australia Day Friday.

First of all, Hubert Hurkacz never gave up without a fight including some incredible fight backs to stay in this match. However, Daniil Medvedev has found the great escape just exactly a minute before the four hour mark. The Pole had a great record over the last two years here but this was his 2nd finals match since the 2021 Wimbledon semi-final as he looks to kick on from here in the next grand slam showings as a regular last 16-8 contender. Plus, Alexander Zverev has eliminated 2nd seed Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz by surprise where he got the job done following an unreal 1st half performance with the 3-1 set win. Didn’t see that coming when the 2 x grand slam champion was the favourite to win this one but not only he fired off poorly but was so far behind for the majority despite some good shots in the latter stages. It remains to be seen if Zverev can find a way to beat Medvedev & have the best shot of being in the Final again since the 2020 US Open where he lost to Austrian Dominic Thiem.

Meanwhile in the women, the rising star 19-year-old Linda Noskova’s time was over at the hands of Dayana Yastremska in straight sets. The Czech got a great start to kick things off including the restart but struggled to bridge the other half unfortunately where Yastremska got the upper hand. From Qualifier to now Top 4, she is now one step away from Saturday’s final where beating Zhang & then maybe taking home the trophy would be a fairytale ending from the bottom up to reaching the highest levels in this draw like Emma Raducanu did in the 2021 US Open. And 12th seed Qinwen Zheng from China has overcame a tight 1st set loss on what been a great comeback win v Anna Kalinskaya. Kalinskaya wasn’t bad on her first grand slam knockout match after some highlight wins v Sloane Stephens & 26th seed Italian Jasmine Paolini beforehand with a close 1st set lead. But unfortunately she could not stay ahead & hang in there a bit longer whilst leading up front when Zheng closed in from behind to see her eliminated from the last 8. Zheng is coming off the back end of last year as a first time finalist at the US Open where he could face Aryna Sabalenka again but this time for the final if she can get the job done tonight.

Tonight’s matches Coco Gauff v Aryna Sabalanka again having last met at the US Open Final a few months ago before Yastremska takes on Zhang where one of them will advance on centre stage this Saturday. For Friday, it will be Novak Djokovic v Jannik Sinner followed by Medvedev & Zverev as all three have yet to win a AO trophy here except Novak.

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