Wuhan Open: Zheng battles past Paolini to move into last four

Chinese Zheng Qinwen, the No 5 seed, advanced to the last 4 of the Wuhan Open by winning against Italian Jasmine Paolini, the No 3 seed, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 at the Optics Valley International Tennis Center.

Just one week on from reaching her first WTA 1000 semi-final, Zheng has now reached her second. Playing in her native China seems to bring out the best in the world No 7, who has now earned her third top-10 win of the season.

Zheng came out on top of a topsy-turvy set before being pegged back by a dogged display from Paolini.

But, helped by a partisan home crowd, Zheng steadied herself well to clinch the decider and move into the last four in Wuhan.

Zheng, ranked No 7, will face Chinese Xinyu Wang next.

Ahead of her victory, the 22-year-old Chinese defeated Romanian wildcard Jaqueline Cristian (6-2, 6-4) and Canadian Leylah Fernandez (5-7, 6-3, 6-0).

Paolini, ranked No 6, won against Chinese Yue Yuan (6-4, 6-3) and Russian lucky loser Erika Andreeva (6-3, 6-2) earlier in the tournament.

Wuhan WTA 1000, other quarter-finals results (Optics Valley International Tennis Center, hard, USD 3.221.715, most recent results first):

• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Magdalena Frech: 6-2, 6-2
• Xinyu Wang beat Ekaterina Alexandrova: 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6)
• Coco Gauff (4) beat Magda Linette: 6-0, 6-4