China’s top player will play in the semifinals of the Huafa Technology WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai after Zheng Qinwen edged Jelena Ostapenko in a winner-take-all round-robin match in the Orchid Group, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. 

2022 WTA Newcomer of the Year Zheng is one of two Chinese players to reach the semifinals. Wildcard Zhu Lin qualified as the semifinalist out of the Rose Group after Veronika Kudermetova’s win over Liudmila Samsonova.

Zheng improved to 3-0 all-time against Ostapenko with the 2-hour win, in which she hit 11 aces and won the last four games. The Zhengzhou champion has now won her last seven matches, and won both of her group stage matches in Zhuhai in three sets.

Zheng and Zhu will now play each other in pursuit of becoming the second Chinese player to reach the final in Zhuhai after Wang Qiang was runner-up to Ashleigh Barty in 2019.

The pair have never played at tour level, but Zhu was a 6-0, 6-1 winner over a 15-year-old Zheng at an ITF World Tennis Tour $60,000 event in Jinan, China back in 2018 — in what was just the sixth event of Zheng’s professional career. 

More to come…