Zheng Qinwen struggled a bit early on in her Tokyo opener against Moyuka Uchijima but then put it in another gear and completed a 7-5 6-0 win over the 57th-ranked Japanese to reach the quarterfinal at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.
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Following a first-round bye, the top seed claimed an early break in the third game but blew it instantly in the following game. In the next five games, not a single break point was seen as Uchijima led 5-4.
But after finding herself a game away from losing the opener, Zheng lost a total of two points across the next three games to seal the first set. From that point on, there was only one player on the court as the world No. 7 bageled Uchijima in the second set to complete a two-set win by winning the last nine games of the match.
Zheng plays next against Leylah Fernandez
For a place in the semifinal of the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo, the 2024 Australian Open runner-up will be battling against 2021 US Open finalist Fernandez, who defeated Varvara Gracheva 6-0 3-6 7-5.
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When Zheng and the eighth seed meet at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, it will be their fourth meeting but also the fourth one on hard. Previously, the Canadian won their first two clashes but the Chinese recently claimed her first win in Wuhan earlier this month.
"After Wuhan, my physical and mental was really tired. But after almost a week off I came back again and I'm feeling more fresh. Also my body, compared to Wuhan, is much better. I'm just going to try and perform like all my matches I did before and let's see what's going to happen this year in Tokyo. The WTA Finals are really close, but first of all, I'm trying to keep the body healthy and then, talking about tennis, let's see how it goes here," Zheng said in Tokyo.
