Cheng’s new tactics help her reach the Tokyo quarterfinals

Cheng's new tactics help her reach the Tokyo quarterfinals

Top seed Cheng Qinwen made a winning start to her 2024 Toray Pan Pacific Open campaign, defeating Hope at home, defeating Moyoka Uchijima 7-5, 6-0 in an hour and 17 minutes to advance to her quarter-final match against No. 8 seed Leila Fernandez.

Tokyo: Results | Draws | Order of play

Afterward, she said she was particularly happy with her performance because she was “trying new things” on the court.

“I try to go to the net more, get closer and shoot the ball more,” she said.

Back in 2022, 19-year-old Cheng reached the first final of her WTA career here, losing to Lyudmila Samsonova in the title match. Two years later, she is an Olympic gold medalist and recently qualified for the Wuhan final two weeks ago, ensuring her qualification to the WTA Finals in Riyadh next month.

Cheng is the only player at the Riyadh WTA Finals competing between Wuhan and the season-ending final, and she said earlier this week that Tokyo offers an opportunity to reset herself away from the glare of her return home to China. In her first encounter with Uchijima, she did just that. After a volatile first set, Cheng reached the finish line, winning the last nine matches in the competition.

Elsewhere, third seed Daria Kasatkina extended her winning streak to five matches after winning the title in Ningbo last week by defeating McCartney Kesler 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Kasatkina comes from a set down to Kessler in Tokyo to claim her fifth straight win

Diverse Repertoire: Early in the third game of the match, Zheng successfully executed her intention to incorporate new tactics into her game, introducing low volleys and volleys as well as her signature forehand to break Uchijima for the first time.

But Cheng struggled with inconsistency in the first set. A series of cheap mistakes from the front wing restored the break. In all, she committed 17 unforced errors in the opener and hit just 47% of her first serves.

But trailing 5-4, Cheng hit her stride again, winning 12 of 14 points to take the set. She maintained that dominance in the second set, as the number of unforced errors dropped to six and her first serve percentage rose to 58%.

Rematch with Fernandez next: Two weeks ago, Zheng beat Fernandez, a 2021 US Open finalist, for the first time in three meetings, winning the third round in Wuhan 5-7, 6-3, 6-0. This is a result that Cheng plans to replicate.

“I think she is a really good player, and she has a different playing style compared to others,” she said. “She takes the ball very early, so you don’t have a lot of time between shots. You always have to be alert, and it’s not easy to play against her. But next time I’ll be at my best, like she did.” I did last time.”

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