Zheng Qinwen Eyes Grand Slam Glory After Indian Wells Success

Chinese tennis player Zheng Qinwen shared her childhood dream of winning a Grand Slam title after reaching the last 16 of the WTA 1000 event at Indian Wells. This marks a career first for her at this tournament, achieved after a victory over Sun Lulu of New Zealand with a score of 6-4, 7-5. Zheng, seeded 8th, is set to compete against Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine on Tuesday.

a Grand Slam title or the World No.1 ranking. She unequivocally stated that a Grand Slam title was her primary goal, a dream she has held since childhood.

Sports commentator Liu Yu noted that Zheng is still regaining her form. The return of her coach, Pere Riba, and her recovery from an elbow injury are expected to help her season. Liu observed that Zheng's serve is not yet at its peak due to the elbow injury, but her victory against Sun demonstrated her resilience.

Zheng's season began with three consecutive second-round exits. Her coach, Riba, was sidelined due to a hip surgery. In Riba's absence, Zheng was defeated in the second round of the Australian Open and suffered early exits at the Qatar Open and WTA 1000 Dubai. Zheng also revealed that she had sustained an elbow injury after the Melbourne defeat.

Riba rejoined Zheng before the Indian Wells event. Zheng, who received a first-round bye, then defeated former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus to advance to the third round. Facing Sun, who had previously defeated her at Wimbledon, Zheng was determined to perform better.

Zheng demonstrated her strong baseline game and aggressive play, controlling the match's tempo. Despite Sun's powerful serves, Zheng secured the first set. In the second set, Zheng took an early lead. A slip on the court briefly disrupted her momentum, but she recovered and maintained control to prevent Sun from making a comeback.

In other news, China's Wang Xinyu was eliminated from Indian Wells after losing to Jessica Pegula in straight sets.