Jasmine Paolini confesses reasons behind Zheng Qinwen demolishing her in key match

Today at 11:25 PM

World No. 4 Jasmine Paolini revealed she was "so nervous" throughout the entire match against Jasmine Paolini and admitted that the Chinese serving exceptionally only made it harder for her out there.

Through their opening two matches in Riyadh, both had one win and a loss. So, Wednesday's matchup was set to determine who would along with Aryna Sabalenka be a WTA Finalist semifinalist from Orange Group.

And it is Zheng, who dismantled Paolini 6-1 6-1 in just an hour and seven minutes of play after firing 12 aces, 24 winners and also saving both of Paolini's break point chances. 

On the other side, the Italian sprayed 22 unforced errors and in both sets held a 1-0 lead before twice losing six consecutive games. 

“She started to serve better and better and it’s tough to read her serve. I think it’s not easy. Now it’s tough to forget this match because I was so nervous. Couldn’t find a solution to play against her. It was a tough day. But there are some positive matches as well. But today it’s a very negative one," Paolini said after the loss.

While this Australian Open runner-up and Paris Olympics gold medalist was creating constant break point chances and realizing them, her own serve was basically untouchable. In the end, it resulted in a demolition of the Italian world No. 4. 

“I finally feel that my serve begin to be a bit more consistent. I remember in 2022 my serve also was quite strong. I don’t know why suddenly in 2023 my serve started to drop. In this tournament and the rest of this half year is the first time I’ve felt like the serve start to be back," Zheng reflected.

Paolini finished her WTA Finals debut with a win over Elena Rybakina and losses to Zheng and Aryna Sabalenka, while the Chinese will now have to see results from Orange Group to see who will her opponent in the semifinal.