Palermo [Italy], July 24 : Zheng Qinwen produced a fine comeback performance to defeat Italy's Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in the final of the Palermo Ladies Open to secure her first career title on the WTA Tour.
Ranked No.26 at the start of the week, Zheng became the 11th Chinese woman to win a WTA singles title. She joins Hua Hin champion Zhu Lin as the second Chinese champion of the season.
"I won my first WTA match here and also my first WTA title," WTA quoted Zheng as saying in her trophy speech, 'but you probably don't know that I won my first ITF championship in Italy.
"This is really special for me. This is my first WTA 250 championship. I will remember that," Zheng said.
Zheng came out of the blocks firing in their first encounter. She broke Paolini twice in a row to immediately create a 3-0 lead. She didn't face a break point for the rest of the set after going up 3-1.
After holding serve to start the second set, Paolini broke in the longest game of the tournament to take a 3-0 lead. Zheng saved five break points in a nine-deuce game when serving behind 1-0, 15-40, but couldn't convert any of her five game points. Paolini scored a second break two games later after Zheng double-faulted on break point, sending the match to a tiebreak after 94 minutes.
Paolini was attempting to become the fourth Italian champion in Palermo, following Flavia Pennetta, Roberta Vinci, and Sara Errani. The 27-year-old was in her fourth three-set match of the week, having already eliminated No. 1 seed Daria Kasatkina in the quarterfinals.
Zheng promptly finished the second set. Zheng broke first in the third set, boosted by a blistering backhand winner that elicited a defiant yell from her new coach Wim Fissette. Zheng calmly powered her way through the fourth set after snuffing out Paolini's momentum.
At 5-1, Zheng served for the title and misfired on her first two Championship Points, but sealed the victory on her third with a flurry of forehands, highlighted by her final winner of the match.
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