In his 7th meeting with Sabalenka, Zheng Qinwen finally broke his fate and made headlines on the official WTA website

For Chinese women's tennis player Zheng Qinwen, Sabalenka, the world's first sister from Belarus, is like a high wall, and she has not tasted victory in her career 6 times, and the two met again in the women's singles quarterfinals of the 2025 Italian Open in Rome in the early morning of the 15th Beijing time, and Zheng Qinwen broke his fate with two straight sets of 6:4 and 6:3, defeating the world No. 1 for the first time and reaching the semifinals. According to the official WTA website, as the late tennis champion Vitas Gruletis famously said, no one can beat Zheng Qinwen seven times in a row. On her seventh attempt, the Paris Olympic champion defeated world No. 1 Sabalenka for the first time.

Zheng Qinwen, who pierced the window paper, made headlines on the official WTA website

Zheng Qinwen and Sabalenka have played each other in the previous 6 times, and the Chinese sister has not tasted a victory, and this time they met for the first time on clay. Zheng Qinwen seized the opportunity to break serve in the fifth game of the first set and took the next game 6:4, Zheng Qinwen broke serve immediately in the early second set, and then broke Sabalenka's serve in the last game, and won the game 6:3, defeating the opponent for the first time in 1 hour and 37 minutes, entering the semifinals of the Italian Open, and will compete with American star Gauff for a ticket to the final.

The last Chinese player to reach the semi-finals of the Women's Singles at the Italian Open was Li Na in 2012.This is also the second time that Zheng Qinwen has defeated the then world No. 1 after defeating Swiatek in the semifinals of the women's singles at the Paris Olympics, and the third time in his career that he has reached the semifinals of singles at the WTA1000 level after the 2024 China Open and the 2024 Wuhan Open.

Zheng Qinwen defeated arch-rival Sabalenka in straight sets

In the 7th meeting with Sabalenka, Zheng Qinwen finally broke her fate, and she posted on Weibo after the game, writing: "Mountains and seas can be flat", in order to break the fate of the heart. According to the WTA's official website, Zheng later believed that her comfort on clay was the X-factor compared to her previous six losses. While Sabalenka has won nine straight matches on the surface, Zheng is proud of her 3-0 record in the clay court finals, with 17 wins and 3 losses in her last 20 clay matches.

"Finally a breakthrough! It's the first time I've played Sabalenka on clay and I feel like I'm better than her on clay, we all have our strengths, and as long as I get over the first two boards, I'll have a chance. In the past, when I played against her, I always lost serve easily in the opening period, but this game has improved in this regard, and the start is good. Zheng Qinwen said after the game.

Zheng Qinwen signed autographs for enthusiastic fans after the game

The 22-year-old Zheng Qinwen's deployment for this campaign has changed slightly, that is, it has an impact on the battle situation, "I always wanted to fight against her strengths before, but this game is like Tian Ji horse racing, constantly targeting her weaknesses, and this smarter method will work." Zheng Qinwen believes that he has always had the ability to beat Sabalenka, and he finally did it in this game, and the victory was not easy to come by. The women's singles draw shows that in the next match, Zheng Qinwen will compete with American rising star Gauff for a ticket to the women's singles final.