Qinwen Zheng into WTA Finals final after dismantling Barbora Krejcikova

Barbora Krejcikova looked gassed from the beginning of her semifinal match at the WTA Finals against Qinwen Zheng. She struggled to find her rhythm, failed to make good decisions to put away points, and was simply dismantled by the more powerful Chinese player. Zheng looked fresher and as if she wanted to win the match more.

Maybe she did. After all, Krejcikova has won a major - she won Wimbledon this season and the French Open in 2021. She doesn't need to win the WTA Finals to prove she can compete at the highest levels or be one of the better players on the WTA tour. She is also 28 years old and likely closer to the end of her career than the beginning.

Zheng, on the other hand, just turned 22 years old and is just finding herself on the tour. She made her first Grand Slam final this year when she reached the Australian Open final before losing to Aryna Sabalenka. Still, there were questions about Zheng's overall quality. She did not face a player ranked in the top 50 on the WTA tour until she lost to Sabalenka.

Qinwen Zheng gets past Barbora Krejcikova to reach final of the WTA Finals

She hasn't yet won a Masters 1000 event, either. She does have one major win in 2024, though. She took home gold for China at the Paris Olympics. In other words, she is capable of winning the WTA Finals, which could be a leap pad to greatness in 2025.

Against Krejcikova, there was little drama in the first set. Zheng kept Krejcikova on her heels with powerful forehands and exquisite serving. She only seemingly got rattled on her serve when a child cried out a few times in the crowd before Zheng's serve. This affected her focus. Otherwise, she had no issues.

Then things fell apart for a bit. To begin the second set, Zheng got two early breaks of Krejcikova and led 3-0. She appeared well on her way to an easy victory. Maybe she relaxed and assumed the win, but Krejcikova took advantage and got the breaks back to even the set at 3-all.

After trading holds on serves until the second set was 5-all, Zheng played brilliantly while Krejcikova attempted to hold. The Chinese player kept hitting returns deep with pace and Krejcikova simply could do nothing but try to keep the rally alive. Zheng took the game with bombastic shots and power and she simply needed to hold to take the match and move to the WTA Finals final. Krejcikova made the final hold difficult, but Zheng did eventually win the game and took the match 6-3 7-5.

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