2024 Australian Open finalist Qinwen Zheng admitted ahead of the 2024 China Open that she missed out on a lot of points early in the season, which put her WTA Finals qualification at risk.
The WTA Finals in Riyadh are inching closer with every week, and Zheng wonders whether she'll be a part of it. The current WTA Race to Riyadh looks promising for Zheng, but she must finish strongly to find herself in a good spot.
She currently sits at number 9 in the WTA Race, around 100 points behind Danielle Collins, who is number 8, and some 400 points behind Emma Navarro, who is currently 7th.
What makes Zheng's chances lower than usual is a rule that allows Grand Slam champions to qualify despite not being in the Top 8. They just have to finish in the Top 20 of the Race, and that rule currently applies to Barbora Krejcikova.
She's 11th in the race, quite a bit behind the 8th spot, which is generally the last qualifying spot, but is in the Top 20, so per the current standings, she would qualify for the year-end championships.
That means that the final player who will enter from the top rankings is number 7, which, at the moment, is Navarro, and there is a decent gap between Zheng and Navarro right now.
While Krejcikova technically could finish outside of the Top 20, the chances are minimal, so for Zheng, it's all about finishing at least 7th. The Australian Open finalist is not sure that she will be able to get it because she missed a lot of solid chances earlier this year to earn some points because she didn't really pay attention to it.
Now, she's under pressure to make it, but it won't be easy. She'll need to perform really well to earn the points needed to get in, as she disclosed ahead of the 2024 China Open.
"It’s really funny I made the final of Australian Open but after that I didn’t take some tournaments seriously and didn’t get enough points. Judging from the points I have, it’s difficult for me to make the Finals this year."
"I even complained to the team for not telling me earlier about the qualification of the WTA Finals. Now I feel the pressure but I cannot do anything. All I can do is give my best in the competitions."
While it will be tricky, it's not impossible for Zheng. She's played well on native soil before, and two big WTA 1000 events are coming up in China. The first one has already started, and it's the China Open, where she's one of the higher seeds, but there is also another WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan that comes after that.
The crowd will heavily back her during that time, so it's not impossible that with two strong finishes, she will earn lots of points and cut the distance between herself and those in front of her short.
"I think I don't consider that like big pressure. I will consider it like big support. Especially when I am feeling down, I see all the people's support on me. It is quite different to play in China compared to rest of the world."
"I know basically all of them, going to be 95% of the crowd, they are going to support me. It is a big confidence. There's also a big energy there when I'm playing on court."