Zheng Qinwen won the China Open on Sunday 11 October, beating fourth seed Mirra Andreeva 7-5 6-4 to become the first Chinese woman to lift the WTA 1000 trophy in Beijing. Five days earlier, Novak Djokovic had taken the men's ATP 500 title for a record seventh time when Alex de Minaur retired injured early in the second set.
Zheng's wildcard run ends in a first WTA 1000 title
Zheng arrived at her home event as a wildcard ranked No 54, after an elbow injury had dragged her down from a career-high No 4 to as low as No 160 earlier in the season. She needed three sets in each of her first four matches, then found her best tennis in the closing stages: she beat sixth seed Elina Svitolina 6-3 7-6(6) in the quarter-finals and 13th seed Elise Mertens 7-5 6-2 in the semi-finals.
In the final, Andreeva served at 5-4 in the first set and held three set points, but Zheng saved them and then won 11 points in a row to take the set. She closed the match on her first match point with an ace. According to the WTA, Zheng conceded 78 games across seven matches, the most by a champion at this level since 1990. "I'm so hungry honestly for what's going to come," she told wtatennis.com. She is projected to return to the top 30.
Andreeva, the Roland-Garros champion, reached her fifth final of 2026 after beating 26th seed Nikola Bartunkova 6-2 6-2, and is set to climb to a career-high No 3.
Top seeds fall early
The women's draw lost its two leading names in the first week. On 3 October, world No 1 Elena Rybakina, playing her first match at the top of the rankings, lost 3-6 6-4 6-3 to Alina Charaeva, ranked No 118. A day later, Bartunkova beat second seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 6-3. Mertens then built a giant-killing run of her own, beating Jelena Ostapenko, Coco Gauff and eighth seed Iga Swiatek, the last 7-6(0) 6-3. Britain's Sonay Kartal won two matches on her return from a back injury before losing to Charaeva in the third round.
Djokovic stays perfect in Beijing
In the men's event, Djokovic came from a set down to beat top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6 6-4 6-4 in the quarter-finals, a win that made him only the third man since 1973 to beat a top-three player after turning 39. His semi-final against Daniil Medvedev ended unusually: with Djokovic serving for the match at 7-5 5-3, Medvedev struck a ball that rebounded off the back wall into the crowd, hitting a spectator, and was defaulted. "I am sure that Daniil didn't want to do this intentionally," Djokovic told atptour.com.
De Minaur reached the final after Hubert Hurkacz retired trailing 6-4 3-2. The Australian pushed Djokovic to a first-set tie-break, which the Serbian won 7-3, but De Minaur then left court for treatment on his groin and stopped after winning the first game of the second set.
What it means
The title took Djokovic to 102 tour-level trophies, one behind Roger Federer, and made him the first man in the Open Era to win a title in 21 straight seasons. He rose to ninth in the Race to Turin, 140 points clear of De Minaur, which keeps the fight for the last places at the ATP Finals wide open. For Zheng, Beijing confirmed that her US Open quarter-final as a qualifier was no one-off: she now heads into the rest of the Asian swing back near the top 30.
Sources
This article was written by TiebreakNews from the reporting below, checked against official results and rankings.
- WTA — Zheng Qinwen makes history with China Open win in first title since 2024
- ESPN — Zheng Qinwen wins China Open final for first title in 2 years
- ATP Tour — Novak Djokovic wins 102nd tour-level title in Beijing after Alex de Minaur retires
- ATP Tour — Novak Djokovic reaches Beijing final after Daniil Medvedev defaulted
- WTA — Charaeva upsets new World No. 1 Rybakina in Beijing second round