China’s Zheng Qinwen shines in first match back after surgery
Zheng Qinwen’s comeback carried more than just the weight of a tennis ball—it carried the relief of a nation waiting to see its star shine again.
On Saturday night in Beijing, the World No. 9 marked her return from elbow surgery with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 win over Colombia’s Emiliana Arango in the second round of the China Open.
It was Zheng’s first win since June, when she reached the semifinals at Queen’s Club, and her first taste of victory on tour after two months of rehab and uncertainty.
The 22-year-old had played only once since Queen’s, a brief and painful first-round exit at Wimbledon, before opting for surgery to repair her troublesome right elbow.
“This wasn’t really in our plan,” Zheng admitted afterward. “I’m not at 100 percent yet—maybe 70 or 80—but I can compete. The recovery process is long. At first I healed really fast, but the last 20 percent just didn’t seem to get better. My team told me there was no risk to play, and since I love playing in China, I made a tough decision to step on court. So far it’s been pretty good.”
The crowd inside Beijing’s National Tennis Center roared with every winner, and Zheng responded with the controlled power that has already made her one of the brightest talents in women’s tennis.
Against Arango, a lucky loser from qualifying, Zheng extended her perfect head-to-head record to 3-0, having beaten the Colombian in straight sets earlier this year at Roland Garros.
More than the scoreline, though, Saturday’s win felt symbolic. Zheng has always played her best tennis at home, and her record proves it. She now owns a 9-3 career mark at WTA 1000 events in China—the best win rate of any Chinese player since the format began in 2009.
Across all WTA events in her home country, she has captured 17 wins in 21 matches, a staggering 81 percent success rate that trails only Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka globally since 2000. Since the tour’s return to China in 2023, no player has collected more match victories on Chinese soil.
“I was really frustrated missing the US Open,” Zheng said. “But playing here, receiving this support, feeling their passion—it gives me extra motivation. Every training session I’d see the fans and think: I want to play in front of these people.”
For the fans, her presence alone was victory enough. For Zheng, it was proof that the elbow can hold up under pressure, even if her game isn’t yet fully back to its peak.
The win sets up a third-round clash with No. 26 seed Linda Noskova, a talented Czech teenager whom Zheng has beaten twice before, including a three-set battle in Rome last year.
“She’s really quick and really tough,” Zheng said, already looking ahead. “It depends how much I can recover, but I look forward to more support from the fans.”
