Focus on tennis events, on and off the court.
The first round of the WTA 500 Ningbo is in full swing.
In order to hit the year-end finals, Zheng Qinwen, the first sister of the Chinese women's tennis, rushed to Ningbo overnight to participate in the competition after finishing the martial arts competition.
After Navarro withdrew from the Ningbo station ahead of schedule, Zheng Qinwen, who could have locked up a place in the finals with only one win, ushered in good news.
Navarro, a wealthy United States girl, withdrew from the WTA 500 Tokyo next week after withdrawing from Ningbo.
Withdrawing from the two 500 tournaments in a row, Navarro has no time to catch up with Zheng Qinwen, and also indirectly assists the first sister of China to lock the finals in advance.
Previously, in fact, Zheng Qinwen only needed to win one game to lock the seat, but it was not easy.
Because the opponent of the first match of the Chinese sister was just eliminated her Grand Slam runner-up and Czech star Mukhova at the China Open.
Therefore, Navarro withdrew continuously, so that Zheng Qinwen no longer had any worries and directly locked in the year-end finals.
Then again, the Asian season can be described as a "sad place" for United States rich girl.
Before entering the Asian season, Navarro was about 500 points ahead of Zheng Qinwen in championship points, occupying the initiative in the finals ticket.
However, after coming to China, he was out of the first 1000 tournament in the China Open and Wuhan Open, and Zheng Qinwen took the opportunity to take advantage of the home field to reach the semifinals and finals respectively, harvesting about 1,000 points, which directly surpassed Navarro by about 500 points.
After the Wuhan Open, there will be no 1000-level matches in the 2024 season, so the 500 tournament is already the best game for players to score points.
After withdrawing from the Ningbo and Tokyo 500 races in succession, Navarro missed a good chance to chase points.
This season, Zheng Qinwen has made significant progress, reaching the championship match at the Australian Open, reaching the quarterfinals at the US Open, defending the title at Palermo, reaching the semifinals at the China Open, winning the runner-up at the Wuhan Open, and helping the Chinese delegation win an unprecedented women's singles gold medal at the Paris Olympics.
In terms of overall record, Zheng Qinwen has achieved a record of 43 wins and 16 losses, with a winning rate of 73%, and the victory is only one game away from Li Na's 44 wins in a single season.
After officially locking the seat in the year-end finals, Zheng Qinwen also became the second player in the history of Chinese women's tennis to qualify for the women's tennis singles finals after her predecessor Li Na.
Chinese women's tennis star Li Na participated in the WTA year-end finals for three consecutive years in the 2011-2013 season, including the runner-up in 2013.
This is also the first time in 11 years that a player in the Chinese tennis women's singles has entered the finals, and she is also the youngest member of the finals in China, setting a new record.
It is worth mentioning that the total prize money of this year's year-end finals is as high as 15.25 million US dollars, equivalent to about 108 million yuan.
China's first sister will compete with seven other people to "share" the grand prize.
Congratulations again to Zheng Qinwen for securing a spot in the 2024 year-end finals!