WATCH: Qinwen Zheng's sensational tweener winner stuns Maria Sakkari at the Qatar Open
Qinwen Zheng played a spectacular tweener winner against fifth seed Maria Sakkari at the WTA 500 Qatar Open.
Since making her WTA debut in 2021, Qinwen Zheng has shown a remarkable amount of consistency and has risen to World No. 24 in the WTA rankings. At the 2023 Australian Open, the 20-year-old lost to Bernada Para in the second round, unable to better her results from the previous year. Prior to playing in Qatar, she participated in the Abu Dhabi Open and reached the semi-finals where she lost to Liudmila Samsonova.
After losing the first set to Sakkari, Zheng was on a mission to equalize the scores in the second set. While serving at 2-2, the youngster chased down a lob from Sakkari and hit an amazing tweener passing shot winner to loud cheers from the crowd. Zheng clinched the second set and forced a decider.
Tweener 🤝 QWEENER!
#QatarTennis https://t.co/5utKakfFiv
The shot was reminiscent of Roger Federer's tweener winner against Novak Djokovic at the 2009 US Open.
THIS Federer shot right here is what I would show any non-tennis fan, if they asked to see an awesome shot.
Perhaps isn’t the most difficult shot of all-time or the most consequential one, but this tweener was *viral*, even before social media 🤯🌭 https://t.co/rv58xHQws5
Qinwen Zheng has previously shared her admiration for the 20-time Grand Slam champion. At the time of Federer's retirement, Zheng praised the Swiss great for his enormous contribution to tennis and thanked him for inspiring her.
"Federer is an icon of our time. He also seeded aspiration in the heart of a young girl from China," Zheng wrote on her Instagram story.
"Thank you for everything you gave to tennis," she continued.
A lovely story from Qinwen Zheng about Roger Federer. https://t.co/4F3M5IJ7Bp
Maria Sakkari eventually defeated Qinwen Zheng 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the second round of the Qatar Open.
Maria Sakkari will face Ekaterina Alexandrova next at the Qatar Open
Maria Sakkari enjoyed success alongside Stefanos Tsitsipas at the 2023 United Cup. The pair led team Greece to the semi-finals of the tournament where they lost to the Italian contingent 4-1.
Sakkari had a disappointing outing at the 2023 Australian Open. After winning her initial matches, the sixth seed faltered against Zhu Lin in the third round and lost the match 6(3)-7, 6-1, 4-6. Subsequently, the World No. 7 was the top seed at the Linz Open. She breezed through the first three rounds of the tournament and faced Petra Martic in the semi-finals only to lose the encounter 6-3, 3-6, 4-6.
Maria Sakkari will be hoping to make a deeper run in Qatar as she squares up to face Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round of the Qatar Open. In her first-round match, Alexandrova defeated former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova in commanding fashion with a scoreline of 6-1, 6-2, and will prove to be a tough opponent for Sakkari.