Zheng ends Sabalenka’s winning streak to reach the final four in Rome
Echoing the famous quote of the late tennis champion Vitas Gerulaitis: Nobody beats Zheng Qinwen seven times in a row. In her seventh attempt, the Olympic champion earned her first win over World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, advancing to the semifinals thanks to a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
Zheng was not only 0-6 against Sabalenka entering their first match on a surface other than hard courts: She was also 0-2 at the quarterfinal hurdle in Rome. But in 1 hour and 37 minutes, she snapped both of those winless marks, saving all five break points that she faced and breaking Sabalenka's serve three times.
Zheng later credited her comfort level on clay with being the X-factor in comparison to their previous six tilts. Though Sabalenka was on a nine-match winning streak on the surface, Zheng boasts a 3-0 record in clay-court finals, and is 17-3 in her last 20 clay-court matches.
"During all this time I'm trying to beat her on court. Sometimes I'm really close, but it's just I never make it before," Zheng said post-match. "This is the first time we play on clay. I guess when I play on clay, I'm more comfortable because I got great experience on clay."
"[I was] more patient than her," Zheng continued of Sabalenka, who hit 27 unforced errors to just 15 winners. "I'm just happy with my performance and happy to make the step forward to beat the World No. 1."
After the first three games went with serve, Zheng never again trailed in the match. She denied Sabalenka two break points in a tense fourth game in the first set -- converting her third game point to even the score at 2-2 -- broke at love in the fifth game, and rose to ever pressure moment put on her from then on to hand Sabalenka her first loss to a Top 10 player this season (she was previously 6-0).
Zheng's poise under pressure was evident no more than late in the second set, where she led wire-to-wire. She failed to convert two break points to stretch her lead to 4-1, and four more opportunities -- these, to lead 5-2 -- passed her by the next time Sabalenka served. The World No. 8 then stood at the line and stared down two break points that would've seen Sabalenka draw level at 4-4, but saved them both.
Zheng is the second Chinese woman to reach the semifinals in Rome after Li Na, who was runner-up at the tournament in 2012. She will bid for her second career WTA 1000 final against No. 4 seed Coco Gauff.
