In a key match in the fourth round of the Paris Olympic tennis women's singles that ended on the evening of July 31, Beijing time, China's "first sister" Zheng Qinwen lived up to expectations, reversing the former world No. 1 and Germany veteran Kerber 2-1 in 3 hours to enter the top 4 of the Olympic singles. The score in the 3 sets was 6 (4)-7, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

【World Ranking】

Zheng Qinwen is ranked No. 7 in the world and is the No. 6 seed at this Olympics. Kerber is ranked 212th in the world, but the 36-year-old is a three-time Grand Slam champion, defeated Serena Williams twice in a Grand Slam final and topped the world No. 1 spot in 2016.

【Confrontation Situation】

The two sides have met once before, and at the 2022 Indians Masters, Kerber defeated Zheng Qinwen in three sets 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 to advance.

【Contest Review】

In the first set, Kerber broke serve and took a 3-1 lead. However, Zheng Qinwen broke back twice in the 6th and 8th games to overtake the score to 5-3. However, not to be outdone, Kerber broke twice again to overtake 6-5, although Zheng Qinwen broke Kerber's serve in the 12th game to win the set, but in the subsequent tie-break, he lost consecutive points after three draws and lost the first set 4-7.

In the second set, Zheng Qinwen grabbed the third break point in the third game to break first, but in the fourth game, Kerber quickly broke back, and the two sides fought fiercely to a 4-4 draw. In the crucial 9th game, Zheng Qinwen completed a key break, and then she withstood the pressure in the 10th game to hold serve and win the set 6-4.

In the deciding set, Zheng Qinwen was once again the first to break serve in the 4th game and fell into an unfavorable situation of falling behind 1-3. In the fifth game, Zheng Qinwen missed 4 break points and failed to break back, and the difference was stretched to 1-4. Fortunately, Zheng Qinwen did not give up, and broke back in the 7th game, and won 3 games in a row to chase 4 draws. After that, neither side broke serve to go into the tie-break. In the tie-break, Zheng Qinwen grasped the fourth match point and won 8-6, thus reversing Kerber with a total score of 2-1 and advancing to the top 4 of the women's singles of this Olympic Games.

【Significance of Results】

Zheng Qinwen reached the semi-finals of women's singles in her first Olympic Games, equaling Li Na's best singles record in tennis at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (semi-finals) set by a Chinese player.

Kerber has previously announced that she will officially retire after the Olympics, and the loss to Zheng Qinwen has also become her career farewell game.

【Next Round Opponent】

After advancing to the semi-finals, Zheng Qinwen will wait for the winner between world No. 1 Swiatek of Poland and No. 8 seed Collins of United States for a place in the women's singles final.