On paper, the last quarter -finals of the WTA tournament ladder in Rome could be promised to be an even duel. Finally, the current Olympic champion, who won the title at the earth courts, met with the best tennis player in the world.
The problem was that while a tennis player from Belarus until now presented in almost every competition, the form of Zheng in recent weeks left a lot to be desired. She dropped out of the competition in Madrid in the first match. In Charleston in the quarter -finals she was defeated by Jekatierina Aleksandrów. In turn, in Miami, also in the quarter -finals after two sets, it turned out better … Sabalenkawhich won 6: 2, 7: 5. So it seemed that he was triumphing in Rome again. Anyway, Zheng for six attempts in the tour, she couldn't win with her even once.
Surprise, Zheng surprised Sabalena in the first set!
Meanwhile, the 22-year-old caused a lot of trouble from the beginning. First of all, she was aware of how Sabalence could effectively put up in this meeting. The key to success was in the first strokes both during the website and on the return, which she tried to play as much as possible. All this so that at all costs not to be set through Sabalenka on the court during a potential exchange.
Such tactics turned out to be the key to success. At the 2: 2 state in Gemach, Sabalenka lost her concentration during her own service, for which she had to pay dearly, because Chinga beat her to point zero! The 26-year-old was experiencing hard moments on the court, as evidenced by a shocking statistics: at some point she won only one of ten points.
Although later the party leveled again, but as it turned out, only one break was enough to win.
Sensation has become a fact! Sabalenka says goodbye to the tournament
The second batch was Sabalenka with her own application, but at the first exchange Zheng showed her that she would not be easy from the beginning. In the first action, she perfectly shortened the court. Later she scored a point in her style, sending an uncomfortable, raised ball. When Sabalenka played it in a bland way, the current 8th WTA rocket easily ended the exchange. And a moment later she broke the opponent for the second time.
Sabalenka on Wednesday evening at Foro Italico presented herself uneven. She had some good licks, but she also played inaccurately a lot of times, as if she didn't quite have a concept for this game. And when the meeting did not arise, the lack of precision was intensified by nerves. This distinguished her from a rival who was extremely confident. She was holding the service and struck during the exchange fawns With a strong rotation, to which the WTA leader did not find an answer.
In addition, Zheng found an effective way to neutralize the largest weapon of Sabalenka, which is the service. She accepted the balls played far from the court line, which gave herself more time to reaction. Such a tactic is dangerous because the rival can then play a difficult next ball. However, on Wednesday at Foro Italico Sabalenka she could not use it.
Thus, in the second set, the Belarusian was already hung on a tennis stry. She lost 2: 4 and had to defend the break points with her own application. However, this art went to her four times.
However, when in the next game Zheng also defended his application in a phenomenal way, Sabalenka reconciled that she would not win the meeting. She came to the last game resigned and quickly lost him. She did it in a symbolic way: a double service error.
Thus, the sensation became a fact. The leader of the WTA ranking said goodbye to D'Italia's internazionals at the quarter -finals, and Zheng was promoted to the semi -finals. There, Chinese will face Coco Gauff.