Home-favorite, Qinwen Zheng will take on Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska in the third round (R32) of the 2024 China Open. Zheng has been in red-hot form this year. Her performances at the two hard-court Grand Slam events were quite exceptional. She reached the final at the 2024 AO and then recently made it through to the QF at the US Open. Will this epic run of form give her an edge in this contest against the Argentinian?

Qinwen Zheng vs Nadia Podoroska: Preview

Apart from making those two deep runs in the Grand Slam tournaments, Qinwen Zheng has also won a title this year at the Palermo Ladies Open. Even here in Beijing, he looked quite impressive in her first match. Zheng thrashed Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova in the R64 match by a 6-1,6-1 scoreline. Are we going to witness a similar dominant performance against Podoroska?

Well, Nadia Podorska has also won a title this year. It was at the WTA 125K Barranquilla, CO, and apart from that, she had also recently made it through to the QF at the Thailand Open. Overall, it has been a decent year for her too. However, she started her 2024 China Open campaign with a comfortable victory against China’s Ren Yufei, but she was seen struggling a bit in her next match. It took Podoroska three sets to beat Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in the R64.

Zheng vs Podoroska: Head-to-Head

Qinwen Zheng has played against Nadia Podoroska only once in her career so far. Last time, the match didn’t last for too long and the Chinese had the last laugh in their first encounter.

• 2023 US Open R128: Zheng 6-1,6-0.

Prediction: Zheng to win in straight sets

Qinwen Zheng has the superiority over Nadia Podoroska in every aspect at the moment. For example, apart from the H2H scoreline, Zheng is currently ranked 7th in the world, whereas, Podoroska is ranked 66th in the women’s singles ranking. Qinwen Zheng has a win-loss record of 36-14 but the Argentinian has a win-loss record of just 10-23. So, considering all these factors, we believe Zheng will have the edge in this match on her home soil.

Now, if we shift our focus to their playing styles, Nadia Podoroska is known for her incredible fighting spirit and tenacity on the court during her matches. No matter who’s her opponent, she is always up for a fight! Apart from that, Qinwen Zheng also needs to keep an eye on Podoroska’s heavy topspin forehands. However, the biggest weakness in her game is her serving abilities. She has hit 48 aces this season and committed near about 98 double faults so far.

On the other hand, Qinwen Zheng is more of an aggressive baseliner who also has a powerful serve and an equally venomous forehand in her armory. She has hit 270 aces so far this season and even in the previous match we saw her winning 84% of her first serve and 100% of her second serve. This shows how lethal she is when it comes to her serves! Apart from all this, Qinwen Zheng also loves to hit the ball early, and she likes to take control of the match from the baseline. Zheng can also generate heavy topspins from both wings. With all these weapons in her enormous weaponry, we think Qinwen Zheng will come up with a dominating performance against Podoroska in this intriguing contest.