Zheng Qinwen advanced to the US Open 2024 quarterfinals after defeating Croatian Donna Vekic 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-2 in a rematch of their Paris 2024 Olympics title match. The two had a back-and-forth battle in the most recent women’s match to conclude in the tournament’s history.
After stepping it up in the tiebreak, the 21-year-old, who lost to Sabalenka in the Australian Open final, finished an intense opening set against 24th seed Vekic in under an hour.
Unfazed, Vekic responded with the first break of the encounter early in the second set, but she soon gave up the serve as Zheng applied pressure with some powerful strokes from both wings, piling pressure on her 28-year-old opponent.
Vekic broke in the tenth game with a backhand winner to tie the match, but Zheng’s serve game faltered momentarily before the Chinese player got her nose in front of the decider and maintained her composure to win.
Qinwen explained the tough game against Vekic after the match and said: “She’s really tough to play on a hard court, she put a lot of pressure on me. At Roland Garros, I was in control. Today she hit aggressively. It was tough for me to play against her. I want to say congrats for such a great result to Donna. It was a nice victory for me. I really enjoyed playing here tonight.”
Qinwen Zheng after beating Donna Vekic in the latest women’s match ever finished at US Open:
“She’s really tough to play… on a hard court, she put a lot of pressure on me. At Roland Garros I was in control. Today she hit really aggressive. It was tough for me to play against… pic.twitter.com/iHnbrbX51t
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 2, 2024
Zheng at the U.S. Open, ranking, and results in 2024
Currently the world no.7 (career-high), the Chinese has managed to achieve an overall 37-13 win-loss record in 2024. The Chinese is competing at the U.S. Open where she defeated the world no.50 Amanda Anisimova 4-6 6-4 6-2, the world no.75 Erika Andreeva 6-7(3) 6-1 6-2, the world no.101 Jule Niemeier 6-2 6-1 and the world no.24 Donna Vekic 7-6(2) 4-6 6-2.
Qinwen Zheng will square off with the world no.219 Alice Tubello in the quarter. They have never competed against each other as of now in top competitions.
The Chinese conquered 2 titles in 2024 in Palermo and Paris. Zheng was the finalist at the Australian Open.
Zheng won 4 titles in her career: 1 on hard courts and 3 on clay courts. (See the list of her titles)
Donna Vekic in 2024
At the moment ranked no.24, the Croatian played her last match on the 1st of September when she capitulated to world no.7 Qinwen Zheng 7-6(2) 4-6 6-2 in the 4th round of the U.S. Open (draw).
This season the Croatian achieved a 30-18 record. Donna Vekic’s best result of the year was getting to the final in Bad Homburg and Paris.
Qinwen Zheng and Donna Vekic fought against each other 4 times. The head to head is 3-1 for Zheng. The last time they played, Qinwen Zheng won 7-6(2) 4-6 6-2 in the 4th round in New York (U.S. Open) on the 1st of September 2024.
In the video below you can watch the highlights.
