Beijing’s hard courts produced a home double on Saturday as wild cards Sun Xinran and Zheng Qinwen moved into the China Open third round, with 16-year-old Sun setting up a meeting with defending champion Coco Gauff and Zheng advancing after Anna Kalinskaya retired ill.
Sun, the junior World No. 1 and reigning US Open girls’ champion, defeated 27th seed Cristina Bucsa 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 31 minutes. It was the first completed WTA 1000-or-higher victory by a player born in 2010.
Making her WTA main-draw debut, the Chinese teenager had already made an immediate impression in round one, when she won nine consecutive games before Eva Lys stopped because of a foot injury while trailing 6-1, 3-0. Against Bucsa, however, Sun had to negotiate a full, high-pressure contest against an established seed.
She recovered from 2-0 down in the second set and moved within a game of the match at 5-4, only for Bucsa to level as the Spaniard attacked the net. Bucsa then held a break point that would have put her ahead 6-5, but Sun erased it with a forehand winner down the line. In the following game, she converted her first match point with a passing forehand.
Ranked No. 582 entering the tournament, Sun is assured of entering the Top 500 after her Beijing run. She will become the third player born in 2010 to reach that bracket, after Memphis champion Kristina Liutova, now No. 119, and Jana Kovackova, now No. 451.
Gauff waits in the third round
Sun’s reward is a first career meeting with third seed Gauff, the 2024 China Open winner. The American will present another major test in the 1000-level draw, but Sun has already shown the composure to hold her nerve at decisive moments in front of a home crowd.
Zheng also came through a demanding match before receiving an unexpected finish. The Olympic champion was leading 15th seed Kalinskaya 6-7(4), 6-4, 3-0 when the Russian retired because of illness.
Kalinskaya took the opening set despite Zheng’s powerful start. At 2-2, Zheng served five aces in one extraordinary game and finished with 13 for the match, but she could not convert a 5-3 lead. Kalinskaya found key serves late in the set and claimed the tiebreak.
The Chinese player kept forcing the issue on return in the second set. Kalinskaya had two break points for a 2-0 advantage, but could not take either. Zheng eventually broke for 4-3, repeatedly striking clean return winners, and this time served out the set.
Kalinskaya took a medical timeout after the opening game of the decider. She played two more games before ending the match with Zheng three games ahead.
Zheng continues her revival
Zheng’s Beijing victory follows her run from qualifying to the US Open quarterfinals, a stretch she has linked to an intensive Florida training block after losing in Toronto qualifying to Lanlana Tararudee. Seven of her past nine matches have gone the distance, and she has won six of those three-set encounters.
Although satisfied with her recovery after the first set, Zheng said she had made the contest tougher than necessary.
“I was up 5-3, then I could not take the first set when I had the chance to serve it out,” Zheng said. “I felt I made the match difficult because I had a lot of break points in the first set. It took some time to adjust my mentality in the second set.
“I am happy to get through, even though she retired. I felt the match was moving in my direction.”
Next, Zheng will play 18th seed Marie Bouzkova for the first time. The Czech reached the third round by beating Seoul champion Kimberly Birrell 6-4, 6-4, ending Birrell’s six-match winning streak.
