Qinwen Zheng looks more and more confident in front of her home crowd and would hold the advantage against odds-defying Elise Mertens.
Match News and Form
Qinwen Zheng continues to delight her home crowd and has jumped into the Beijing semifinal for the second time in her career. The former world No. 4 was quite close to being pushed to a deciding set for the fifth match in a row, but edged Elina Svitolina, 6-3, 7-6, with a tight tiebreaker.
In contrast, Zheng needed the scenic route against Shi Han, Anna Kalinskaya, Marie Bouzkova and Alina Charaeva, even if two of those opponents were ranked outside the top 100. The 24-year-old continues her path of resurgence, which recently received a boost with a US Open quarterfinal.
Elise Mertens is not yet done collecting big scalps in Beijing, a tournament where she had never won consecutive matches in six past appearances. The Belgian backed up her victories over Jelena Ostapenko and 2024 champion Coco Gauff with a win over another former champion, Iga Swiatek.
Mertens stunned Swiatek, 7-6, 6-3, in the quarterfinals after refusing to lose a point in the tiebreak. The world No. 19 was having a lukewarm season for the most part until this fortnight, having failed to reach a quarterfinal until Wimbledon and later settling for a WTA 500 final in Monterrey.
Head to Head
Qinwen Zheng leads 1-0 after winning their April 2025 encounter on the green clay courts of Charleston in three sets.
Stats and Facts
Qinwen Zheng lost her only previous Beijing semifinal affair to Karolina Muchova in straight sets in 2024.
Zheng seeks her second WTA 1000 final (2024 Wuhan) and her first instance of multiple top-20 wins in a single outing since the 2024 WTA Finals.
Elise Mertens is 0-2 in WTA 1000 semifinals after losing those in Cincinnati in 2020 and Dubai in 2021.
Mertens has been to only three career finals above WTA 250 level and only one in the last five years (2026 Monterrey).
Betting Analysis
Elise Mertens has already defied the odds plenty this fortnight, including recording her season's third and fourth top-10 wins. She will be a tough challenge for Qinwen Zheng, but it seems slightly more likely that the local star will continue to ride the home support and slip into the final.
