In the group stage of the 2024 United Cup, Chinese tennis was a big upset, Zheng Qinwen and Zhang Zhizhen played together, led the Chinese team to win two points in a row, led the Czech team 2-0 with a big score, and locked the victory in advance!
In the first men's singles matchup, Zhang Zhizhen and Leheka faced each other. In terms of world rankings, Zhang Zhizhen is outside the 50s, Leheka is ranked 31st, and in the Australian Open last season, Leheka also reached the quarterfinals, and the United Cup is held in Australia, jointly organized by the ATP, WTA and the Australian Tennis Association, and the Chinese team competes in Perth. In all aspects of comparison, Zhang Zhizhen is at a disadvantage. In the first set, although Zhang Zhizhen took the lead in breaking serve, Lehecka came from behind to take the next game 7-5. After actively adjusting his form, Zhang Zhizhen won the second set with a score of 6-3. Entering the deciding set, Zhang Zhizhen continued to suppress his opponent and won again with a score of 6-4, defeating Lehecka from 0-1 to 2-1 in the total set, and the following grams won the first point of the team competition for the Chinese team. At the same time, this is also Zhang Zhizhen's first singles victory in the 2024 season, earning 35 points and $40,000 in prize money, and entering the top 50 for the first time in the world ranking, setting a new career high.
In the second women's singles, China's first sister Zheng Qinwen played, but the Czech team has the Grand Slam champion Vondrousova. Last season, Zheng Qinwen continued to improve, won the first title of his career and won 2 tour titles, and the world ranking reached 15th, but compared with Von Drousova's Wimbledon women's singles championship, Zheng Qinwen's results are still slightly inferior, and Vondrousova's world ranking is also higher, ranking 7th in the world! However, like Zhang Zhizhen, Zheng Qinwen also won the following grams, and the game process was a little ups and downs, Zheng Qinwen easily won the first set 6-1, Vondrousova responded strongly 6-2 in the second set, Zheng Qinwen regained the initiative in the deciding set and won 6-1, and defeated the Grand Slam champion Vondrousova 2-1 in three sets, which means that the Chinese team won two points in a row in this team competition, leading the Czech Republic 2-0, and had sealed the victory in advance before the last mixed doubles matchup.
Two consecutive singles, Chinese tennis continued to break the upset, Zhang Zhizhen reversed Leheka 2-1 to enter the world's top 50, Zheng Qinwen 2-1 to beat the world's 70,000 Dzhusova 2-1 to start the new season, from our pre-match psychological expectations, the first two singles can win one is already satisfied, and now the Chinese team has won two points in a row, which is definitely a big surprise! In the last mixed doubles matchup, the Chinese team partnered with a brother and a sister, Zhang Zhizhen partnered with Zheng Qinwen, if they can win again, the Chinese team will sweep the strong Czech team with a big score of 3-0, which will be an unbelievable big score.
In this year's United Cup team competition, the Chinese team and the Czech Republic, Serbia are in the same group E of the Perth division, in terms of rules, the first place in each group and the second place in the group with the best results in the two cities advanced to the top 8, after winning the Czech team in the first game, the Chinese team is in a very good situation in qualifying from the group, but then our opponent is stronger: the Serbian team led by the world No. 1 Djokovic.