BEIJING, October 12, 2026 (DAILYNWZ) — Zheng Qinwen captured her first WTA 1000 title on Sunday, defeating French Open champion Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 in Beijing to cap a determined comeback after falling outside the world’s top 100 earlier this season.
The victory made Zheng the first Chinese player to win the Beijing tournament, which returned to the calendar in 2004 after an earlier run in the 1990s. The 24-year-old, a former world No. 4 and Olympic champion at the Paris Games, secured the title in front of her home crowd before falling to the court in an unusually emotional celebration.
“It’s an incredible feeling to win here in Beijing,” Zheng said. “Winning at home, in front of my own fans, was one of my dreams.” She succeeds American Amanda Anisimova, last year’s champion.
The triumph marks a major turnaround for Zheng, now ranked 54th after struggling through a difficult first half of 2026. Following elbow surgery in the summer of 2025, her results dipped, and she slipped out of the top 100 toward the end of spring.
“I’ve had a very, very difficult year,” she said.
Signs of recovery emerged in September, when Zheng reached the US Open quarter-finals after coming through qualifying. She had also reached the Australian Open final and the season-ending WTA Finals championship match in 2024.
Zheng entered the Beijing main draw on a wildcard from tournament organizers. Her win made her only the fourth wildcard entrant to claim a WTA 1000 title, following Maria Sharapova at Cincinnati in 2011, Bianca Andreescu at Indian Wells in 2019 and Victoria Mboko in Montreal in 2025. The Beijing title is the sixth WTA tournament victory of her career.
The final was far from straightforward. Andreeva, 19, broke early to take a 2-0 lead, but Zheng responded with the aggressive baseline play and fighting spirit that have defined her game. After leveling at 2-2, she faced three set points while trailing 5-4. She saved them all, won the game and then took the next two games without losing a point to close out the opening set.
Andreeva broke Zheng in the opening game of the second set but quickly lost her advantage as the Chinese player drew level. At 4-4, Zheng broke again and served out the match on her first opportunity in the following game, finishing with a powerful ace.
For Andreeva, the defeat was her second WTA 1000 final loss of the season, following her defeat on clay in Madrid in early May. She had won her first two finals at this level in 2025, in Dubai and Indian Wells.
Despite the loss, Andreeva will rise to a career-best world No. 3 on Monday. Zheng, meanwhile, is set to move back toward the top 20, underlining the scale of her recovery.