In the early morning of November 10, WTA Finals Riyadh 2024 came to an end. Zheng Qinwen, student of the School of Physical Education at HUST, battled with the famous American player Coco Gauff for more than three hours, and eventually, lost the deciding set in a tie-break and won second place.

Though 22-year-old Zheng fell short in the final, she is already the youngest player to break into the title race on her debut at the WTA finals, matching HUST alumnus Li Na's best WTA Finals result. She once again set a new personal best.

This year has been a fruitful season for Zheng Qinwen, marked by remarkable achievements across various tournaments at all levels of the tennis tour. She reached six women's singles finals, and has won three titles and three runners-up, namely: runner-up at the Australian Open in January, champion at the WTA 250 35° Palermo Ladies Open in July, gold medalist at the Paris Olympics in August, runner-up at the WTA 1000 Wuhan Open in October, champion at the WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open in October, and runner-up at the WTA Finals Riyadh in November.

Zheng Qinwen had an impressive record of 50 wins and 18 losses on the tour this season, making her the first Chinese player in the Open Erato to secure more than 50 tour-level victories in a single season. Thanks to her tenacity and hard work throughout the year, Zheng Qinwen finished this season ranked world No.5.

Written by: Tang Wei

Edited by: Zhou Enlin, Chang Wen, Peng Yumeng