Zheng Qinwen has won an Olympic gold medal and played in the finals of the Australian Open and WTA Finals. She has been capable of excellence and achieved a career-high ranking of No. 4. That was just over a year ago, but it seems like 10.
In July 2025, she had an elbow injury that forced her to miss the rest of the year and the beginning of this one. She is still trying to regain the form she had leading up to the injury, and she is having to do so at the US Open the hard way: She isn't yet in the main draw, as he had to begin in qualifying.
That began with a match against fellow Chinese player You Xiaodi, a player who has never indicated she could reach the level of Zheng when Zheng is at her best, but she hasn't been at her best for many months. That might have given Xiaodi some hope in the first round of qualifying.
Zheng Qinwen sweeps past You Xiaodi to begin US Open qualifying
It shouldn't have. While Zheng was still not at peak level, she was simply a better player than her countrywoman. The tone was set immediately as Zheng got a break in the opening game of set one. After each player held through the set until Xiaodi was serving at 3-5, Zheng got another break to take the first set 6-3.
Zheng kept up the pressure at the beginning of set two. After a hold, she got her third break of Xiaodi, who was striking the ball well enough but just lacked the high-end ability to stack great shots like Zheng. Xiaodi did push Zheng, the 14-seed in qualifying, in the third game, but she was able to hold to jump to a 3-0 lead and was leaving no doubt as to who would win the match.
Moving forward, Zheng Qinwen will need to clean up her serve. She had nearly as many double faults as aces, unnecessarily giving her opponent free points. That allowed Xiaodi to stay in some games she shouldn't have otherwise been in. Not that it was enough, though. She just couldn't get enough winners to make Zheng feel nervous.
After trying to get back on serve, Xiaodi might have had to spend too much energy. By the end of the second set, Zheng was in total command and got one more break to take the final set 6-2. The former quarterfinalist at the US Open still has to work through qualifying, but she is beginning to play at a level that should scare the rest of the WTA.
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