Elise Mertens knocks Iga Świątek out in Beijing: Zheng Qinwen awaits after three wins over Grand Slam champions
Elise Mertens reached the semifinals of the 2026 China Open after defeating Iga Świątek 7-6(0), 6-3 in Beijing on Friday, October 9. The Belgian player, the tournament's 13th seed, beat the eighth seed and 2023 Beijing champion in one hour and 50 minutes. It was her first victory over the Polish player in their three head-to-head meetings, as well as her third consecutive win over a Grand Slam champion at this year's China Open. After Jelena Ostapenko and Coco Gauff, Mertens also outplayed Świątek, achieving her best singles result at a major WTA tournament in the past five years.
The next challenge will be different, both because of her opponent and the atmosphere in the stands. On Saturday, October 10, the Belgian will face Chinese player Zheng Qinwen, the 2024 Paris Olympic champion, in the semifinals, with Zheng enjoying strong crowd support in China's capital. Zheng reached this stage by defeating Elina Svitolina, and both semifinalists have the opportunity to reach their first China Open final. The WTA 1000 tournament concludes on Sunday, October 11, when the singles final is scheduled to take place.
Mertens' serve left Świątek without a single break-point opportunity
The Belgian's victory is best illustrated by the statistics published by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) after the quarterfinal. Mertens won 33 of 38 points behind her first serve, or 87 percent, hit 24 winners and committed just 11 unforced errors. She also recorded five aces, according to a report by Field Level Media. Even more significant is the fact that Świątek did not earn a single break-point opportunity throughout the match. Against a player known for aggressive returns and long rallies, that proved decisive in determining the balance of power.
The first set passed without either player losing a service game, although Mertens had two break-point opportunities on return. When the decision moved to a tie-break, the previously evenly matched contest took an unexpected turn: the Belgian won all seven points to close out the set 7-0. According to WTA statistics, it was the first time Świątek had lost a tie-break without winning a point at this level of competition. Such an ending to the opening set did not automatically guarantee victory, but it demonstrated how effective Mertens was when mistakes were most costly.
In the second set, the Belgian finally converted an opportunity on her opponent's serve, moved ahead 3-1 and then won her next service game without dropping a point to take a 4-1 lead. Świątek continued to fight and went ahead 0-30 in the final game, but there was no comeback. Mertens won four consecutive points to close out the match in straight sets. The WTA also highlights that she became only the second player to face Świątek in the main draw of a tournament under the organization's jurisdiction, excluding Grand Slams, team competitions and the Olympic Games, without allowing a single break point. Before her, Coco Gauff had achieved that feat in Madrid in 2025.
From a dramatic start to victories over three Grand Slam champions
Mertens' path to the semifinals did not begin with a convincing victory, but with a long and demanding match against American Katie Volynets. The Belgian led 6-0, 3-0, but victory slipped out of her immediate reach, and she eventually prevailed 6-0, 4-6, 7-5 after almost three hours of play. Then, in the third round against Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, she had to recover from a 0-2 deficit in the deciding set. She won that match 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, beginning a sequence of victories against players who had won Grand Slam singles titles.
A major result began to take shape on October 7, when Mertens defeated third seed Coco Gauff 6-3, 6-3 in the round of 16. It was her first victory over the American after five previous defeats. The WTA recalls that the Belgian had already had significant opportunities in their earlier meetings, including three match points at the Dubai tournament earlier in 2026. In Beijing, she did not allow another turnaround and played particularly confidently in the closing stages, winning ten of the final eleven points on her own serve. She defeated the player who had won the China Open title in 2024.
Her next opponent was Świątek, another former Beijing champion and multiple Grand Slam winner. With her quarterfinal victory, Mertens defeated three different Grand Slam champions at a single WTA tournament for the first time. According to the WTA, the last time she beat more than one such opponent at the same event was in 2019, when she defeated Angelique Kerber in the semifinals and Simona Halep in the final on her way to the title in Doha. The Belgian also became the first player since Aryna Sabalenka in 2018 to defeat two former champions of the tournament at a single edition of the China Open.
Mertens explained to reporters in Beijing that her game had developed from round to round. She emphasized that in her opening match she was still trying to get a feel for the surface and conditions, while opponents such as Ostapenko demanded different solutions and maximum concentration. Her success against Świątek was therefore not an isolated surprise, but the culmination of a week in which she first endured two difficult matches and then went through two consecutive encounters against top opponents without dropping a set.
A semifinal that confirms the value of her singles career
Although particularly well known for her doubles results, Mertens has belonged to the group of highly successful singles players for years. According to her official WTA profile, she has won ten singles titles during her career, including the Doha tournament in 2019, and her highest singles ranking was world No. 12. Her best Grand Slam singles result came at the 2018 Australian Open, where she reached the semifinals. Ahead of the China Open, she was ranked 19th in the world and was seeded 13th in Beijing.
Her achievements in doubles are even more extensive. The Belgian was the world No. 1 in that discipline and has won six Grand Slam women's doubles titles, including the 2026 Australian Open with Zhang Shuai. Nevertheless, this Beijing result carries its own significance: it is her first WTA 1000 singles semifinal since Dubai in 2021 and only the third such appearance of her career. A victory on Saturday would take her into her first singles final at this level, demonstrating just how important success against Zheng could be for her career.
Mertens is also competing in the doubles tournament in Beijing. Alongside Diana Shnaider, she reached the semifinals, where they will face Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani, the second seeds in the competition. According to the schedule published by the WTA, that match is expected to take place after her singles semifinal. Following her victory over Świątek, the Belgian stressed that her current priority was recovery and preparation for the match against Zheng. Her double competition schedule further emphasizes the importance of timing, rest and conserving energy during the closing stages of the tournament.
Zheng Qinwen returns to the top level after injury and a major ranking decline
Mertens' opponent on Saturday did not reach the semifinals as a seeded player. Zheng Qinwen received a wildcard from the organizers, and current WTA data places her 54th in the singles rankings. That position does not reflect her previous peak: the Chinese player reached world No. 4, played in the finals of the Australian Open and the season-ending WTA Finals in 2024, and won Olympic gold in Paris that same year. Just a few days before this semifinal, on October 8, she turned 24.
Her comeback becomes even more significant when considering the problems that marked the previous season. According to the WTA, Zheng underwent surgery on her right elbow in July 2025, after which she attempted to return at the China Open but had to retire from her third-round match. She then did not compete again until the tournament in Doha in February 2026. Due to the interruption in her competitive continuity and the lack of results, she dropped as low as world No. 160 in June. In Beijing, she is now once again competing for a place in a major final, representing a considerable turnaround from her situation just a few months earlier.
An important role in her recovery of form was played by a training period in Florida before the US Open. According to Zheng's own statements reported by the WTA, she skipped the Cincinnati tournament to devote herself to more intensive work with her team. In New York, she then came through qualifying to reach the quarterfinals, before continuing her run of positive results in Beijing. Ahead of the semifinals, the WTA recorded 12 victories in her last 13 matches. The Chinese player has also spoken about a change in approach: after a long period of uncertainty, she now views every success as confirmation of the work she has put in rather than something to be taken for granted.
Victory over Svitolina showed how dangerous Zheng is on crucial points
Zheng secured her place in the semifinals on Friday by defeating sixth seed Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6(6). According to the official WTA report, the match lasted one hour and 47 minutes, with the Chinese player closing out the second set in a tie-break by 8-6. In the first set, she established an early advantage and broke her Ukrainian opponent's serve three times. Although the second set brought a much closer contest, Zheng remained decisive enough in the closing stages to convert her second match point and avoid a third set.
It was her fourth semifinal appearance at WTA 1000 tournaments and her third achieved in China, following appearances in Beijing and Wuhan in 2024. The WTA states that Zheng is only the third wildcard entrant to reach the China Open semifinals, after Peng Shuai in 2006 and Wang Qiang in 2018. Alongside Li Na and Peng Shuai, she is also among the Chinese players who have reached the Beijing tournament semifinals more than once. Her story therefore combines a comeback from injury with the special significance of achieving results in front of a home crowd.
Fans' expectations are also linked to her previous successes. In 2024, Zheng reached the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan, China's other major tennis center, while her Olympic title made her one of the most recognizable names in women's tennis in China. In Beijing, she now stands one step away from another significant final. At the same time, Mertens arrives with a string of victories over players who have won the biggest titles. Saturday's encounter therefore brings together two different but equally remarkable stories from this year's tournament.
Their only previous meeting went to the Chinese player
Zheng and Mertens have met only once before, in April 2025 on clay in Charleston. Zheng won that match 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, meaning she enters the semifinal with a 1-0 lead in their head-to-head record. However, Saturday's match will take place on Beijing's hard courts and under circumstances different from those of their first encounter. The statistics from their previous match provide an initial reference point, but cannot determine the outcome on their own, particularly after both players' remarkable improvements in form in recent weeks.
For Mertens, one of the most important tasks will be to reproduce the first-serve consistency and control of errors she displayed against Świątek. Zheng, on the other hand, demonstrated her willingness to play decisive shots at important moments in the quarterfinal, and had already come through several three-set matches in earlier rounds. Following the quarterfinal, the Belgian acknowledged her opponent's quality, referred to her injury problems and emphasized that she expected a demanding match, with Zheng benefiting from the home crowd. The Chinese player stated that she wanted to focus on her own tennis, regardless of her opponent's identity.
The stakes are not limited to reaching the final. At a WTA 1000 tournament, the champion earns 1,000 points, the finalist receives 650 and a player whose campaign ends in the semifinals receives 390 points, according to official WTA data. The tournament's total prize money in 2026 amounts to 9,415,725 US dollars, further illustrating the importance of the Beijing event in the final part of the season. For Zheng, advancing represents an opportunity to continue climbing after her ranking decline; for Mertens, it is a chance to add her first WTA 1000 singles final to an already distinguished career.
The remaining semifinalists confirm the unpredictable outcome of the China Open
The other semifinal pairing features Mirra Andreeva and Nikola Bartunkova. Fourth seed Andreeva defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova in the quarterfinals, while Czech player Bartunkova, the 26th seed, eliminated her compatriot Karolina Muchova. According to the WTA's semifinal preview, only one of the four semifinalists is ranked among the world's top 15 players, while three are still seeking their first WTA 1000 title. This semifinal lineup reflects just how far the results in Beijing have departed from initial expectations and the players' seeded positions.
Świątek's defeat also had consequences beyond the China Open draw itself. The WTA announced that following her elimination, Mirra Andreeva and Linda Noskova had mathematically secured their places in the season-ending singles tournament. The quarterfinal result thus also affected the race for places among the year's leading players. Świątek, the 2023 China Open champion, will not compete for a second Beijing title this time, while Mertens and Zheng continue toward their head-to-head encounter, which will determine one of the finalists.
The China Open takes place at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, on outdoor hard courts, and this year's main singles draw features 96 players. Although the tournament brings together numerous winners of the sport's biggest titles, recent days have shown that previous success and ranking position do not guarantee a place in the final stages. Mertens earned her opportunity by overcoming three Grand Slam champions, while Zheng did so through her comeback from injury and a victory over a highly seeded opponent. Their match on October 10 will determine who will compete for the 2026 China Open title in Sunday's final.
Sources:
- WTA – report on Elise Mertens' victory over Iga Świątek, match statistics and historical data (link)
- WTA – report on Mertens' victory over Coco Gauff and earlier rounds of the tournament (link)
- WTA – Zheng Qinwen's victory over Elina Svitolina and information about her semifinal appearance (link)
- WTA – story of Zheng Qinwen's recovery, comeback and change in approach (link)
- WTA – semifinal previews and the players' head-to-head records (link)
- WTA – official schedule, tournament category, ranking points and prize money (link)
- WTA – Elise Mertens and Zheng Qinwen profiles, career results (Mertens; Zheng)
- Field Level Media – agency confirmation of results, match durations and serve statistics (link)