BEIJING — Mirra Andreeva and Zheng Qinwen will meet for the China Open title on Sunday, with the fourth-seeded Andreeva chasing her fourth trophy of 2026 and home wild card Zheng seeking a landmark first Beijing crown for Chinese tennis.
Key takeaways
- The singles championship match is scheduled for not before 7:30 p.m. local time on Capital Group Diamond Court, after the doubles final.
- Andreeva will rise to World No. 3 on Monday regardless of Sunday’s result and has already secured her place at the WTA Finals at Indian Wells.
- Zheng is the first Chinese player to reach the China Open final since the tournament joined the WTA calendar in 2004.
- The winner will collect $1,151,380 and 1,000 WTA ranking and Race points; the runner-up receives $612,340 and 650 points.
- Andreeva has won 50 matches this season, while Zheng has spent a tour-leading 13 hours and 33 minutes on court in Beijing.
A final shaped by contrasting routes through the draw
Andreeva has been increasingly dominant since surrendering the opening set of her campaign to Yuan Yue. The 19-year-old responded to that early setback by winning 10 consecutive sets, including straight-sets victories over No. 19 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the quarterfinals and No. 26 Nikola Bartunkova in the semifinals.
The fourth seed had a first-round bye before defeating Yuan 3-6, 6-0, 6-0. She then beat Polina Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1, Daria Snigur 6-2, 6-2, Alexandrova 7-6(4), 7-6(3), and Bartunkova 6-2, 6-2.
Beijing is Andreeva’s fifth final of the season. She has already won titles at Roland Garros, Adelaide and Linz, while finishing runner-up in Madrid. Her five final appearances match the season total of Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka and Jessica Pegula. Her 50 match wins are tied with Pegula for the most on tour this year, and make Andreeva the youngest player to reach that total since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009.
Zheng’s path has demanded considerably more court time. Her opening match against Shi Han went the distance, and she also survived a three-set contest with No. 18 seed Marie Bouzkova before taking down No. 6 Elina Svitolina and No. 13 Elise Mertens in succession.
The Chinese star began by beating Shi 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-2, then advanced when No. 15 Anna Kalinskaya retired while Zheng led 6-7(4), 6-0, 3-0. Zheng subsequently edged Bouzkova 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-5, defeated Alina Charaeva 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, overcame Svitolina 6-3, 7-6(6), and dismissed Mertens 7-5, 6-2.
Her 13 hours and 33 minutes on court is the longest workload recorded by any player at one tour-level event this season. Karolina Muchova’s 13 hours and three minutes at Wimbledon is the next-highest figure.
Andreeva said she expects Zheng to bring an aggressive, quick-strike game in front of a partisan crowd. “She plays very aggressively, hits a lot of balls and tries to play fast,” Andreeva said, adding that she and coach Conchita Martinez would prepare carefully for the challenge. Andreeva has also pointed to renewed work with Martinez on her return game during the Beijing run.
After her uneven start against Yuan, Andreeva said her level has improved round by round. “With every match, I was feeling better physically and mentally, and better with the way I was playing,” she said.
History, rankings and a home-court opportunity
The pair have met once before, also in Beijing. Zheng recovered from a set down to beat Andreeva 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 in the 2024 quarterfinals, giving the local favorite a previous victory to draw upon for Sunday’s rematch.
Zheng is attempting to end a long wait for a Chinese champion at this event. Before this week, Chinese players had gone 0-7 in China Open semifinals. She is now the first from the host nation to reach the final and is bidding for her first WTA Tour title since winning Tokyo in 2024.
Her Beijing breakthrough also places her in rare company. Zheng’s first two career Tier I or WTA 1000 finals have both come in her home country, following her Wuhan 2024 run. Since 1990, Serena Williams is the only other player to have reached her first two finals at that level on home soil, doing so at Indian Wells and Miami in 1999.
Ranked No. 160 in mid-June, Zheng is projected to return to the top 30 after a strong summer and early-autumn stretch. Andreeva, meanwhile, is guaranteed to leave Beijing as the new World No. 3.
The China Open has a total prize-money purse of $9,415,725. In doubles, Katerina Siniakova and Zhang Shuai await either Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani or Elise Mertens and Diana Shnaider in the final, which begins at 4:30 p.m. local time. The winning pair will share $468,200, with the runners-up splitting $247,870.
The singles final is due to follow, not before 7:30 p.m. in Beijing, equivalent to 7:30 a.m. Eastern time and 12:30 p.m. Central European time.
