Sunday, October 11, 2026

Wk.40- Qinwen's Gambit

Before Alex Eala, there was Zheng Qinwen... and she's back.








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*WEEK 40 CHAMPIONS*
BEIJING, CHINA (WTA 1000; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Zheng Qinwen/CHN def. Mirra Andreeva/RUS 7-5/6-4
WD: Gaby Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani (CAN/BRA) def. Katerina Siniakova/Zhang Shuai (CZE/CHN) 6-1/6-2
Suzhou, China (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Rebecca Sramkova/SVK def. Kyoka Okamura/JPN 6-3/6-1
D: Li Yu-yun/Zhang Ying (TPE/CHN) def. Tatiana Prozorova/Aliaksandra Sasnovich (RUS/BLR) 6-3/6-0
Samsun, Turkey (WTA 125; Hard Court Outdoor)
S: Ayla Aksu/TUR def. Lucrezia Stefanini/ITA 7-5/2-6/6-2
D: Elena Pridankina/Anastasia Tikhonova (RUS/RUS) def. Rutuja Bhosale/Elena Micic (IND/AUS) 7-6(5)/6-7(7) [10-3]




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[Beijing 3rd Rd. Monday-to-Final]




PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Zheng Qinwen/CHN
...two seasons ago, Zheng was ascendent. In 2024, she didn't just win Olympic Gold, she also reached the AO, WTAF and Wuhan 1000 finals, as well as winning two other titles as she finished the season at #5 before climbing as high as #4 early in '25. Last season, she reached consecutive Sunshine Double QF, the semis in Rome and RG QF before lingering elbow issues finally required surgery following Wimbledon.

Everything since then has been in question, until the past two weeks in Beijing.

A year ago, after missing two months, Zheng returned to the courts to play in Beijing, only to abort her early comeback after retiring in just her second match. She didn't play again until February, and spent most of rest of the season searching for her form. She arrived in New York for U.S. Open qualifying at just 11-13 and ranked #125.

That's when things finally began to click again. She qualified recorded her first slam MD wins in fifteen months, then put on a QF run that included wins over Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek, with comebacks from 5-0 down in back-to-back sets over the two matches, before falling in three sets to eventual champion Elena Rybakina (Zheng had had a BP chance up 4-3 in the 3rd).

In Beijing, Zheng was a gradually-building steamroller, as the wild card entrant went three sets in her first four matches, defeating Shi Han, Anna Kalinskaya (ret.), Marie Bouzkova (7-5 3rd in 2:54) and Alina Charaeva. On her 24th birthday, Zheng took out Elina Svitolina, then Elise Mertens, in straight sets to reach her first final since the '24 WTAF, becoming the first Chinese player to reach the Chinese Open final (CHN women had been 0-7 in SF), as well as bein gthe first wild card and the lowest-ranked (#54) player to do it.

Rising to the occasion late in both the 1st and 2nd sets against Mirra Andreeva in the final, running off eleven straight points in the 1st and getting a late break/hold combo to close things out in the 2nd, Zheng won her sixth career tour title with a 7-5/6-4 victory, her first singles win since '24 in Tokyo.

14-2 since the start of U.S. Open qualifying, Zheng will jump all the way back up to #23 on Monday.

And, of course, with Zheng's return to the winner's circle, we also get another rendition of Qinwen Karaoke...


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RISER: Mirra Andreeva/RUS
...Andreeva won her maiden slam title at Roland Garros in the spring, but the rest of her season hasn't exactly been headline-making.

The 19-year old has just one Top 10 win on the year (Iga in Stuttgart), and hasn't picked up a 1000 title since taking Indian Wells *last* season. Andreeva won a pair of 500 events (Adelaide/Linz) in the opening months of the season, and was runner-up in the Madrid 1000 some six months ago, but she started off Beijing having gone just 5-5 in non-major events since RG (though she did rise perform well in New York with a QF run at the U.S. Open), and was still missing a second signature moment for her season.

The Hordette threatened to get it in Beijing while running off wins vs. a draw that was, honestly, a notch or so below what one might expect in an event that included eight total Top 10 players (counting Andreeva herself), but ultimately came up just short in her second 1000 final of the season.

Wins over Yuan Yue (w/ love 2nd *and* 3rd sets), Polina Kudermetova, Daria Snigur, Ekaterina Alexandrova and Nikola Bartunkova launched her into her ninth career WTA final with a ten-set winning streak, but it was home favorite Zheng Qinwen who played the "chapionship points" better to close out both ends of a straight sets, 7-5/6-4 win in the title match.

Still, Andreeva's 50 wins and three singles titles are tied for the tour lead, and this week she locked up her maiden WTA Finals berth. She also did enough to climb to a new career high of #3 on Monday, making her the youngest to debut in the Top 3 since Maria Sharapova in 2005.


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SURPRISES: Sinja Kraus/AUT and Ayla Aksu/TUR
...while other Austrians -- namely Anastasia Potapova and Lilli Tagger -- have made more headlines in 2026, this has been a career year for Kraus, as well.

The 24-year old has made her slam MD debuts at the last three majors, reached a pair of 125 finals (winning the second title of her career) and cracked the Top 100, climbing as high as #80 this summer. Beijing provided another door to knock down, as Kraus had her first multi-MD victory tournament at tour level, doing so in a 1000 event after having been 0-4 this season in 1000 1st Round matches (and 0-3 in her slam openers, as well).

Kraus outlasted Maya Joint in a 7-5 3rd in the 1st Round, then advanced after Potapova retired after five games in their all-AUT match-up. She then upset Dayana Yastremska to reach the Round of 16.

Kraus took Nikola Bartunkova to three sets in her attempt for even more, but the young Czech ultimately claimed the "W." Still, the Austrian will jump 20 spots to another new career high at #78.



In Samsun, Turkey, 30-year old Aksu became the second Turk in recent weeks (w/ Berfu Cengiz last month in Ankara) to win a 125 crown, grabbing her biggest career title in what was her second 125 final this season (she lost to Dasha Vidmanova in June).

Eight months after winning what was then her biggest crown (a $75K), Aksu posted wins in Samsun over Emiliana Arango, Alicia Dudeney, Fiona Crawley, Himeno Sakatsume and Lucrezia Stefanini in a three-set final.

Previously a longtime success on the ITF level, where she's won 14 career events in 27 final appearances, Aksu will jump from #210 all the way up the #152, far outdistancing her previous career high of #198.

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VETERANS: Elise Mertens/BEL and Elina Svitolina/UKR
...in Beijing, Mertens continued her thirtysomething resurgence, notching a pair of Top 10 wins and producing her best 1000 result in five years.

The veteran Waffle battled through the early rounds, winning a 7-5 3rd set vs. Katie Volynets and taking down Alona Ostapenko in three. Her 4th Round win over a mentally weary Coco Gauff made Mertens the fifth woman this season with Top 10 wins on all three surfaces (a career first, and her first such win on hard court in three years), and her follow-up upset of Iga Swiatek was her career-best fourth Top 10 win of the season.



Playing in her first 1000 SF since Dubai 2021 (she hadn't reached a QF since Madrid '21), after a 48-event drought at that level, Mertens fell a round short of what would have been her maiden 1000 final in a straight sets loss to Zheng Qinwen.

Already this season, Mertens has reached her first slam QF (Wimbledon) since 2020, as well as posting her best career win over then-#2 Elena Rybakina (also WI), and reached a tour singles final for the tenth straight season. She remains title-less, though, with her last title coming on the grass at Rosmalen in summer '25. Her last title above the 250 level came in Australia in January '21.

The Belgian will rise to #14 in the new rankings, with a shot at reaching her career high of #12 (from 2018) before the end of the season.

Always a double threat, Mertens also reached the WD semis alongside Diana Shnaider in their first pairing since reaching the U.S. Open SF.

Svitolina arrived in Beijing off Ukraine's maiden trip to the BJK Cup Final, then added to her consistent '26 campaign with her 12th QF (in 18 events) of the season (fifth in a 1000) following wins over Katerina Siniakova, Maria Sakkari and Ann Li.



Svitolina lost in the last eight to Zheng Qinwen, but she's likely to be the next to book her spot in the WTA Finals in Indian Wells. She's currently in the #6 spot in the Race, with an 1100 and 1200 point lead on the top two players currently outside the field (Kostyuk and Swiatek) in the Race standings after Beijing. Svitolina hasn't been in the tour championships field since reaching her second straight final in 2019 (she was the champion in '18).
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COMEBACKS: Ekaterina Alexandrova/RUS and Rebecca Sramkova/SVK
...Alexandrova came into Beijing still under .500 at just 17-22 on the season, and close to falling out of the Top 30 after having finished up her first career Top 10 campaign last year.

The veteran Hordette's results started to improve during summer hard courts, a stretch which saw her post wins over Aryna Sabalenka and Marta Kostyuk, and she added a second 1000 QF run (along w/ Toronto) of the season after wins over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Diana Shnaider and Linda Noskova, her third Top 10 victory of '26 (#22 in her career).



Alexandrova fell in a pair of TB sets vs. countrywoman Mirra Andreeva in the QF. Alexandrova served for both sets, at 5-3 in the 1st (after trailing 3-1) and 6-5 in the 2nd (after trailing 5-3).

9-5 since her retirement loss in the Memphis QF to 16-year old Kristina Liutova, Alexandrova will jump back up to #24 in the new rankings.

In Suzhou, Sramkova posted her best result of an otherwise forgettable season, winning the 125 crown with a 6-3/6-1 win in the final over late-blooming 31-year old Japanese player Kyoka Okamura, who was playing in her biggest career final. The Slovak had notched previous wins on the week over Claire Liu and Renata Zarazua.

It's Sramkova's biggest title since winning her maiden tour-level crown in Hua Hin two years ago (she reached three WTA finals in '24). Before this week she'd only advanced past the 2nd Round in one (a 125 QF in Oeiras in April) of her first 23 events this season.


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FRESH FACE: Nikola Bartunkova/CZE
...Bartunkova's first week success in Beijing carried over well into the second, as the 20-year old Czech followed up her early win over Aryna Sabalenka with wins over Sinja Kraua and Karolina Muchova, advancing in dominant fashion over her countrywoman to pick up her third Top 10 win of the season as she reached both her maiden 1000 QF *and* SF.

Bartunkova fell a round short of the final with a loss to Mirra Andreeva, but will jump four more spots to a new career high of #30.


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ITF WORLD TENNIS: Ane Mintegi del Olmo/ESP and Alisa Oktiabreva/CZE
...both former junior slam winners, both are putting on a show in recent weeks at the challenger level.

Mintegi del Olmo, the Wimbledon girls' champ in 2021, continues to emerge from her injury-riddled last few seasons, this week winning her fourth '26 challenger crown (and second $50K) in Burgas, Bulgaria, outlasting Anastasia Sobolieva and closing out the week with a love 3rd set win to pick up her second straight title.

The 22-year old has now won her last eight challenger singles finals back to November 2023.

In Heraklion (GRE), 18-year old Oktiabreva won her *third* straight challenger title, running her winning streak to 15 matches with a 7-5/6-1 win in the final over Ipek Oz.

The new Czech is now 8-1 in ITF World Tennis finals, going 4-0 in '26.

Oktiabreva won the RG girls' title earlier this year in her junior swan song event, defeating first-week Beijing star Sun Xinran in the final in Paris.


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JUNIOR STAR: Maaya Rajeshwaran/IND
...17-year old Rajeshwaran, the girls' #16 and the winner of two J300 titles this season (and a recent J500 semifinalist in Osaka), claimed her maiden pro titles with a sweep of the singles and doubles in the $35K in Lagos, Portugal.

First-time finalist Rajeshwaran, who had to win a qualifying match to reach the MD, defeated Spain's Celia Cervino Ruiz 6-4/6-2 to take the singles, and teamed with 19-year old Ukrainian Yelyzaveta Kotliar to win the doubles.


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DOUBLES: Gaby Dabrowski/Luisa Stefani, CAN/BRA
...while the doubles duo of the year remains Siniakova/Townsend, with their title run in Beijing the team of Dabrowski/Stefani solidified their position as the season #2 by defeating the only other combo in the conversation -- also featuring Katerina Siniakova, only with Zhang Shuai, who came into the match w/ two titles and a 13-0 season record -- in a 6-1/6-2 final to claim their fifth '26 title (matching the total of Siniakova/Townsend).

The two lost just one set en route to the win (in the SF), knocking off Errani/Paolini, Mertens/Shnaider and the top seeds along the way, ending Siniakova's personal streak of nine consecutive wins in doubles finals.

It's Dabrowski/Stefani's sixth overall title as a duo, with the Canadian claiming the 25th of her career, and Stefani #17.


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[Beijing 3rd Rd. Monday-to-Final]


1. Beijing 4th Rd. - Karolina Muchova def. Naomi Osaka
...7-5/1-6/7-6(7). Even with her brief late summer absence, Muchova has arguably been the most consistent player on tour in 2026, as her latest win over Osaka only further highlighted as she improved her season record in matches in which she wins the 1st set to 34-0.

It took some doing, and much trial and error, for the Czech to keep her record spotless, though.

First, Muchova had to actually *win* the opening set, which she did after having trailed 4-1. After Osaka sent things to the 3rd, Muchova fell behind again at 3-1, only to surge back and reach MP at 5-4. She had five MP chances on Osaka's serve, including three in a row at love/40, but couldn't get the break to close things out.

After two more holds during which the servers lost a total of one point, everything came down to a TB. Muchova went out to a 6-4 lead, and while Osaka never held a MP of her own (getting as close as 6-6 and 7-7) she forced the Czech to use and lose three more MP attempts before finally converting on #9 to win 9-7 and improve to 3-0 vs. Osaka on the season.



Unfortunately, this one seemingly took everything out of Muchova, as she was dominated in the QF by Bartunkova, dropping the first five games of the match, winning three in a row and then losing the last seven in a 6-3/6-0 defeat.
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2. Beijing 3rd Rd. - Iga Swiatek def. Donna Vekic
...4-6/7-6(0)/6-2. Swiatek nearly went the way of Rybakina and Sabalenka in Beijing, but started off the tournament's second week by avoiding an upset, pulling out of a deep hole vs. the veteran Croatian.

Vekic led 6-4/5-2, up a double-break and twice serving for the match (she fell behind love/40 in both games, eventually being broke twice at 15). Once Swiatek survived that, the Pole won her first career 7-0 TB before taking control and putting away the 3rd at 6-2.

Meanwhile (and exactly)...



The WTA is and remains the GOAT of unforced errors. Would this have been so hard?


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3. Beijing QF - Elise Mertens def. Iga Swiatek
...7-6(0)/6-3. Of course, in a result emblematic of Swiatek's '26 season, with a shot to pick up real ground in the race for the final spot in the WTAF field, she followed up her 7-0 TB win over Vekic with a 7-0 TB *loss* vs. Mertens two rounds later, as the Belgian picked up her second win in the event (w/ Gauff) over a former Beijing champion.



Swiatek remains around 600 points behind Muchova for the last spot. Race #8 Linda Noskova and #9 Marta Kostyuk are positioned between the two in the standings, but Noskova has assured her spot in the field on the strength of her Wimbledon title whether she holds onto her current final Top 8 spot in the standings or not.


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4. Beijing Final - Zheng Qinwen def. Mirra Andreeva
...7-5/6-4. Zheng surges late to claim both sets in the final, sweeping the final 11 points of the 1st and then breaking Andreeva for a 5-4 lead (on BP #4) in the 2nd before serving out her biggest tour-level title.

Zheng's win prevented Andreeva from moving into first place for the season in titles (she remains tied with Sabalenka and Rybakina w/ three) and match wins (she remains at 50, tied w/ Pegula).


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5. Beijing 3rd Rd. - Coco Gauff def. Sun Xinran
...7-5/6-1. The 16-year old's run ended in the 3rd Round, but she still held the crowd in the palm of her hand with some great moments.



Of course, all that'll be remembered from this match is that with Gauff serving in the 1st set, and Sun leading 5-4, Coco stopped mid-point and asked for a re-playing of the point when a wall of electronic ads flickered in her line of vision as she moved to make a volley. The chair umpire *did* grant the perfectly justified request for a re-play.

Predictably, the moment set off a whole manufactured controversy in which Gauff was hounded as a "cheater," and some declared that Sun had been "robbed of the set." Sun reacted emotionally (i.e. like a normal 16-year old might) to losing the point, and Gauff dominated the match the rest of the way. Naturally, this brought out all the racist social media trolls, as well.

It got so bad that Gauff felt she had to publicly address the landslide of racism sent her way...





Of course, the best answer to it all would have been to go on and win the tournament, but that didn't happen. In her next match, Gauff suffered her worst loss -- 6-3/6-3 to Elise Mertens, against whom she'd been 5-0 -- since February in Doha, as her last eight complete-match losses had all come in three-set affairs. She then announced her withdrawal from Wuhan, where she was the reigning champion.



Credit to Gauff for going public with the abuse. But, still, I honestly don't know why players don't just use social media as a place to post and vent, and simply don't look at the comments and messages from people who are just trying to inflict judgement and pain (which surely *seems* to have gotten to Coco in this case), giving them the sort of power they haven't earned and surely don't deserve.

I know the WTA has done work to try to stop such abuse, but nothing will block it *all* out except for choosing to not give it all the headspace its perpetrators seek. That doesn't mean not calling it all out when it happens, of course. Some cooperation between the tour and the media companies supposedly monitoring such activity would be nice, too. In a perfect world.

Of course, the WTA being the WTA, didn't even come out and make any sort of statement in the middle of this needless mess, once again leaving one of its own to fend for herself without public institutional support at a moment when it would have been appreciated and most needed, not to mention *expected*.

But it's the WTA, so...
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1. $50K Burgas BUL Final - Alena Kovackova/Jana Kovackova def. Maia Ilinca Burcescu/Sonja Zhenikova
...6-4/7-5. Another week, another Crusher all-twins title, as the 18-year old Kovackovas improve to 9-0 in career pro finals.

They won the '25 U.S. Open and '26 AO together, and Jana went on this year to claim three girls' doubles majors, becoming the first to complete a Career Girls' Doubles Slam.
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And from the WTA... (crickets)




Also, I wouldn't recommend reading any of the comments on the threads concerning Gauff, either, as you quickly lose brain cells the longer you subject yourself to such trash.


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Jordis Unga (2005)...




2025...





#booksky

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— Bookshelfie ⭐️ (@bookshelfie.bsky.social) October 9, 2026 at 8:21 PM







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*2020-26 WTA SINGLES TITLES*
26 - 1/2/8/6/5/3/1 = Iga Swiatek
19 - 3/2/0/3/4/4/3 = Aryna Sabalenka
12 - 1/0/1/2/3/3/2 = Elena Rybakina
11 - 0/1/0/4/3/2/1 = Coco Gauff
10 - 0/0/1/2/2/3/2 = Jessie Pegula
9 - 0/3/2/2/1/0/1 = Barbora Krejcikova
8 - 1/5/2 = Ash Barty (ret.)
7 - 2/1/0/1/0/1/2 = Elina Svitolina
6 - 0/0/0/0/1/2/3 = Mirra Andreeva
6 - 0/1/1/2/0/2/0 = Belinda Bencic
6 - 0/1/1/1/0/2/1 = Leylah Fernandez
6 - 0/2/2/0/2/0/0 = Dasha Kasatkina
6 - 0/0/1/1/1/2/1 = Madison Keys
6 - 0/1/1/1/2/1/0 = Alona Ostapenko
6 - 0/0/0/2/3/0/1 = ZHENG QINWEN

*MOST WTA FINALS in 2026*
5 - MIRRA ANDREEVA (3-2)
5 - Elena Rybakina (3-2)
5 - Aryna Sabalenka (3-2)
5 - Jessie Pegula (2-3)
4 - Karolina Muchova (2-2)
3 - Marta Kostyuk (2-1)
3 - Elina Svitolina (2-1)
3 - Coco Gauff (1-2)
3 - Victoria Mboko (0-3)

*MOST WTA SF in 2026*
8 - Jessie Pegula (5-3)
7 - Coco Gauff (3-4)
7 - Elina Svitolina (3-4)
6 - MIRRA ANDREEVA (5-1)
6 - Elena Rybakina (5-1)
6 - Aryna Sabalenka (5-1)
6 - Karolina Muchova (4-2)
5 - Marta Kostyuk (3-2)
5 - Iva Jovic (2-3)

*2026 WTA DOUBLES TITLES*
7 - Katerina Siniakova
6 - Taylor Townsend
5 - GABY DABROWSKI
5 - LUISA STEFANI
4 - Zhang Shuai
3 - Maia Lumsden
3 - Aldila Sutjiadi
[duos]
5...Siniakova/Townsend
5...DABROWSKI/STEFANI
2...Dart/Lumsden
2...Guo/Mladneovic
2...Routliffe/Sutjiadi
2...Siniakova/Zhang
[2020-26 - individuals]
32 - Katerina Siniakova (1/6/6/3/5/4/7)
17 - Taylor Townsend (1/0/0/3/3/4/6)
17 - LUISA STEFANI (1/1/2/3/1/4/5)
16 - GABY DABROWSKI (0/1/3/2/2/3/5)
15 - Barbora Krejcikova (1/5/3/4/1/1/0)
15 - Elise Mertens (1/4/2/2/3/2/1)
14 - Nicole Melichar-Martinez (2/2/2/0/3/3/2)
14 - Erin Routliffe (0/1/1/3/3/4/2)
[2020-26 - duos]
14..Krejcikova/Siniakova (1/5/3/3/1/1/0)
9...Errani/Paolini (0/0/0/1/4/4/0)
8...Aoyama/Shibahara (1/5/0/2/0/0/0)
8...Siniakova/Townsend (0/0/0/0/2/1/5)
7...Dabrowski/Routliffe (0/0/0/2/2/3/0)
7...DABROWSKI/STEFANI (0/1/1/0/0/0/5)
7...Siegemund/Zvonareva (1/0/2/4/0/0/0)

*2026 WTA DOUBLES FINALS*
8 (7-1) = KATERINA SINIAKOVA
6 (6-0) = Taylor Townsend
6 (5-1) = GABY DABROWSKI
6 (5-1) = LUISA STEFANI
6 (3-3) = Maia Lumsden
6 (4-2) = ZHANG SHUAI
5 (2-3) = Nicole Melichar-Martinez
[2026 finals - duos]
5...Siniakova/Townsend (5-0)
5...DABROWSKI/STEFANI (4-1)
4...Danilina/Krunic (1-3)
3...SINIAKOVA/ZHANG (2-1)
3...Maleckova/Skoch (1-2)





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At this point, there is no ambiguity about what just happened: Trump has stabbed the Ukrainian nation in the back in exchange for a shipment of diesel that would be a roughly 17 hour supply for the US market. It shows how easily Trump is manipulated by Putin, Xi and other dangerous dictators.

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— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) October 10, 2026 at 5:31 PM


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@jackohman.bsky.social in solidarity with @anntelnaes.bsky.social a series of protest cartoons by artists who supported Ann when she resigned from WaPo

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— paulpro (@mariopro.bsky.social) October 8, 2026 at 8:30 AM


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republicans used to complain about the violence in gangster rap and now they want to livestream an execution

— derek guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) October 9, 2026 at 8:56 PM


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I don’t know who needs to hear this, but you’re not obligated to justify your choice of music, books, television, or films to anyone.

— The Whimsical Muse (@whimsicalmuse.bsky.social) October 8, 2026 at 1:36 PM





All for now.

posted by Todd.Spiker @ 7:30 PM 

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