At 17 o'clock on May 13, Beijing time, in the fourth round of the 2024 WTA Rome Open, Chinese player Zheng Qinwen faced Japan's Naomi Osaka. In the first set, Zheng Qinwen broke serve three times and won the first set 6-2. In the second set, Zheng Qinwen broke again in the opening game and went to the next set 6-4. In the end, Zheng Qinwen defeated Naomi Osaka 2-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals.
Zheng Qinwen is the No. 7 seed in this tournament. Both players have been in a slump of late, with Zheng Qinwen having recently suffered injuries and underperforming, while Naomi Osaka has grown up on hard courts and has been underperforming on clay.
It is worth mentioning that Naomi Osaka's current coach Fassett is Zheng Qinwen's former coach, and he has been coaching Zheng Qinwen since June last year, but in September last year, Zheng Qinwen revealed that Fasseter unilaterally broke the contract and turned to coach Naomi Osaka, and said that he did not want to mention this person again.
On the way to qualify for this tournament, Zheng Qinwen had a bye in the first round, swept the American Rogers 6-2 and 6-0 in the second round, and reversed the 29th seed Noskova 2-1 in the third round. Naomi Osaka went 2-0 in the first three rounds, including two 6-3 defeats in the third round by 10th seed Kasatkina. The two sides met once at the 2022 San Jose Grand Prix, when Naomi Osaka defeated Zheng Qinwen 2-1 in the round of 32.
In the first set of this match, Zheng Qinwen quickly broke serve in Naomi Osaka's first service game, but immediately after, Naomi Osaka broke back with a strong return on Zheng Qinwen's serve. Zheng Qinwen broke again in the fifth game, and then his form got better and better, and he held serve to expand the score. In the seventh game, Naomi Osaka's backhand slash failed, and the first serve was not in good shape, Zheng Qinwen broke for the third time, and then won the service game in one fell swoop. Zheng Qinwen won the first set with relative ease, 6-2.
In the second set, Zheng Qinwen mobilized Naomi Osaka in a wide range in the first game and broke serve again. The ensuing match was up and down, with both men holding serve in the next eight games, and the match came to Zheng's serve, where she seized the opportunity to win the second set 6-4. Zheng Qinwen eliminated Naomi Osaka with a score of 2-0 and advanced to the quarterfinals of this tournament.