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Australian Open Women's Singles Final Preview: Can Zheng Qinwen inherit Li Na's glory?On January 27, 2024, Melbourne's Rodra Wall Stadium will usher in an exciting Australian Open women's singles final, and Chinese golden flower Zheng Qinwen will face Belarusian star Sabalenka in a life-and-death battle for the highest honor in the Grand Slam.
This is the first time in Zheng Qinwen's career that she has reached a Grand Slam final, and she is only the second player in Chinese women's tennis history to achieve this feat after Li Na.
Can Zheng Qinwen inherit Li Na's glory and create another glory for Chinese tennis? Zheng Qinwen's journey to the Australian Open can be described as amazing, as she eliminated four seeded players in the first four rounds, including former world No. 1 Kerber, last year's US Open champion Andreescu, French Open runner-up Svitolina and last year's Australian Open semi-finalist Barty.
In the semi-finals, she defeated Ukrainian dark horse Yastremska with two scores of 6-4, becoming the first women's singles finalist in the history of the Australian Open to break through from the qualifying round.
Zheng Qinwen's performance fully demonstrated her strength, confidence and resilience, and her aggressive style of play also won the applause of the audience.
Zheng's opponent is Sabalenka, a seasoned Grand Slam champion who won back-to-back French Open women's singles titles in 2012 and 2013, before beating American Serena Williams to lift her third Grand Slam trophy at the Australian Open last year.
Sabalenka has continued to be in excellent form this year, not dropping a set in six matches at the Australian Open, including the semi-finals against former world number one Gauff.
Sabalenka's style of play is known for her power, her baseline attack and forehand and backhand are extremely threatening, and her serve and front-net skills should not be underestimated.
Both players have similar styles, both are attack-oriented, and like to take the initiative to control the tempo of the game.
Their record is a 1-1 draw, with the most recent meeting coming at Wimbledon in 2019, where Zheng won comfortably 6-2.
However, the hard courts at the Australian Open are more favourable to Sabalenka, who also has more experience in Grand Slam finals, so she is still on the edge in the final.
However, Zheng Qinwen will not give up easily, she has proven that she is capable of challenging any opponent, and she also has a strong desire to win and a sense of national honor.
Zheng Qinwen's final battle is undoubtedly a major event in Chinese tennis and a great pride of Chinese sports.
Her predecessor, Li Na, made history by a Chinese player winning the Australian Open women's singles title in 2014, and her personal highest ranking reached No. 2 in the world.
Regardless of whether Zheng Qinwen wins or loses in the final, she will break the highest ranking of a Chinese player since Li Na, and if she wins the final, she will move up to sixth, and if she loses in the final, she will rise to seventh.
Zheng Qinwen is expected to become the new leader of Chinese tennis and open a new chapter for Chinese tennis.
The final between Zheng Qinwen and Sabalenka will be played at 4 pm on January 27 at Rod Laver Stadium, at that time, fans all over China will cheer for Zheng Qinwen, looking forward to her being able to make history at the Australian Open and add glory to Chinese tennis! With a score of 6-4, she defeated Ukrainian dark horse Yastremska in straight sets, becoming the second Chinese player to reach the Australian Open women's singles final after Li Na.
This is the biggest breakthrough in Zheng Qinwen's career, and it is also a great news for Chinese tennis.
In this competition, Zheng Qinwen showed her strength, confidence and fighting spirit, allowing the world to witness her growth and progress.
Not only has she made personal and national history, but she has also earned herself numerous accolades and support.
In the final, she will face defending champion and Belarusian star Aryna Sabalenka for the Australian Open Women's Singles crown, which will be a difficult but exciting battle and an important test for Zheng Qinwen to reach the pinnacle of tennis.
## Zheng Qinwen's rise Zheng Qinwen, born in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in 1999, has had a strong interest and talent in tennis since he was a child.
She started playing tennis at the age of 6 and participated in the national children's tennis tournament at the age of 8 and won the championship.
Her father, Zheng Jianguo, was her first coach and her biggest supporter.
Zheng Qinwen once said: "My dad is my best friend, he has always been with me, taught me to play tennis, and gave me encouragement and confidence.
Zheng Qinwen's father also once said: "I hope she can enjoy tennis, no matter what the results are, I will support her and be proud of her."
Zheng Qinwen showed her tennis talent and potential as a teenager, becoming the first player in history to achieve this feat when she won the Australian Open Junior Women's Singles title twice in 2014 and 2015.
She was also runner-up and runner-up in the 2015 Wimbledon Junior Women's Singles and the 2016 French Open Junior Women's Singles, making her one of the most successful junior tennis players in Chinese history.
In 2015, Zheng Qinwen officially turned to the professional arena and began her professional career.
Her career has not been smooth sailing, she has experienced injuries, slumps and setbacks, but she has never given up on her dreams and hard work, she has been constantly learning, improving and breaking through, gradually growing into a good professional footballer.
The turning point in Zheng's career came at the 2019 US Open, where she played her best to reach the quarterfinals of the women's singles, becoming only the fourth Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam after Li Na, Peng Shuai and Zhang Shuai.
In that tournament, she knocked out the tournament's No. 11 seed and former world No. 1 Kerber, the No. 20 seed and France's Mosniaki, and the No. 2 seed and then world No. 1 Serena Williams, showing her incredible strength and courage.
She lost to future champion and rising Canadian star Andreescu in the quarterfinals, but she's already earned the respect and applause of the world.
That tournament also made her jump into the top 20 in the world rankings, becoming the new first sister of Chinese tennis.
In 2020, Zheng's form was up and down, with her performances at both the Australian Open and the French Open not satisfying, but she performed well at Wimbledon and the US Open, reaching the round of 16 and the round of 32 respectively.
Her best result of 2020 was winning the Guangzhou International Women's Open, her third WTA singles title of her career and her first WTA singles title at home.
She didn't drop a set in that match and showed her dominance.
She was ranked 15th in the world at the end of 2020 and is the only Chinese player in the top 20.
In 2021, Zheng's form improved significantly, and her performances at the Australian Open and French Open improved, reaching the round of 32 and the round of 16 respectively.
Her best result of 2021 was the Dubai Tennis Championships, her fourth career WTA singles title and her first WTA singles title at the top level.
She showed her strength and confidence by beating No.9 seed and former world No.1 Pliskova, No.3 seed Garcia of France, No.2 seed Halep of Romania, and No.4 seed Kvitova of the Czech Republic.
She was ranked 12th in the world at the end of 2021 and is just one step away from the top 10.
In 2022, Zheng Qinwen's form reached its peak, and she performed well at the Australian Open and French Open, reaching the semi-finals and finals respectively.
Her performance at the Australian Open was particularly impressive, where she played her best tennis ball and made it all the way to the women's singles final, becoming only the second Chinese player after Li Na to reach the Australian Open women's singles final.