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Qinwen Zheng pulled off an absolutely stunning tweener during her Doha match against Maria Sakkari. Serving at 2-2 in the second set, Zheng pulled off what some believe is an early candidate for the shot of the year on the WTA Tour.
Zheng did win the second set to send the match into a decider but fell short in her bid to create a comeback win.Tweener 🤝 QWEENER! #QatarTennis pic.twitter.com/5utKakfFiv — wta (@WTA) February 14, 2023
In the end, fifth-seeded Sakkari won 6-2 3-6 6-3.
How Sakkari beat Zheng?
Sakkari got off to a great start to the match, breaking Zheng in the very first game of the match. In the fifth game, Sakkari broke Zheng again to open a 4-1 lead and go up by a double break.
At 5-1 in the first set, Sakkari had her first set point on Zheng's serve but the Chinese saved it to cut the deficit to 5-2. Sakkari maybe didn't realize her first set point in the seventh game but she routinely served out for the first set in the following game.
After easily winning the first set, Sakkari also earned the first break of the second set in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Down by a set and a break, Zheng started playing much better as she responded with back-to-back breaks in the fourth and sixth games to win four games in a row and take a 5-2 lead in the set.
In the ninth game, Zheng converted her first set point to send the match into a decider. Early in the third set, Zheng saved two consecutive break points in the second game to tie the third set to one game apiece. Zheng saved two break points in the second game but couldn't do the same two games later as Sakkari broke the Chinese in the fourth game to open a 3-1 lead.
In the fifth game, Zheng had two break point chances but didn't convert as Sakkari took a 4-1 lead. Sakkari then held on to her serve for the rest of the match to complete a three-set win. It was the second meeting between the two as Sakkari now leads their head-to-head 2-0.