Zheng Qinwen revealed to reporters that she was overthinking and putting too much pressure on herself in her last two matches against Aryna Sabalenka but this time has an idea of how to avoid that and hopefully play her game.
On Saturday, the No. 5 seed ousted Wang Xinyu 6-3 6-4 to reach the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan. By doing so, the Chinese tennis star set up a final meeting against No. 1 seed Sabalenka.
Heading into the Wuhan final, the Belarusian owns a 3-0 head-to-head against Zheng, having handed the 22-year-old straight-set defeats in each of the last two US Open editions, as well as this year's Australian Open final.
For the Chinese tennis star, lifting her maiden WTA 1000 title in front of her home fans in her hometown would certainly be a dream come true. But there is one catch - she is set to battle against a player who has been a nightmare opponent for her so far.
Zheng answers what she must do different this time against Sabalenka
"Well, first of all, I think I should put my mental in a relax mood 'cause last time when I played against her, both times, I was a little bit like thinking too much and I was able to play my tennis. So I wish tomorrow first of all I can perform well my tennis and after think about the tactic. If you don't show your tennis, it's tough to talk about the tactic. I just wish tomorrow I could done better than last time 'cause right now my attitude changed. From the lesson of last time, I know I need to keep myself in balance. Sabalenka, she's a really aggressive player, but I'm aggressive, too. So we will see tomorrow," Zheng explained.
Not only that Sabalenka beat the world No. 7 in their first three meetings, but she pretty much dismantled the Chinese - 6-1 6-4 in the 2023 US Open quarterfinal, 6-3 6-2 in this year's Australian Open final, 6-1 6-2 in the US Open quarterfinal a month ago.
It will be interesting to see if Zheng can come up with something different this time and at least make it a competitive match.
