Zheng Qinwen bests Parks in Stuttgart Open, sets Swiatek meeting

Zheng Qinwen made a winning debut at the Stuttgart Open, defeating Alycia Parks to set up a second-round meeting with No.1 seed Iga Swiatek. It took one hour and 41 minutes for Qinwen to script a stunning 6-4, 6-4 win over Parks.

After the Court 1 contest, Zheng declared her wish to play "in the big stadium" for her next match. When told that her clash with Swiatek would almost certainly get that billing, Zheng replied: "That's perfect. I like challenges." A match between two of the best servers on tour was always going to be decided by the quality of their deliveries and their ability to take risks. Zheng landed 50% of her first serves, while Parks only 46%, but Zheng was more consistent behind her second serve, winning 53% of those points to Parks' 44%.

Parks had eight aces to Zheng's four, but this was offset by 11 double faults. These frequently came in clusters and at inconvenient times. Both sets were decided by a single break of serve, and Parks committed a pair of double faults in both of those games. Zheng faced only one break point, which she saved with an unreturned serve in the sixth game of the first set. "She's a little bit tough to beat because she has a really huge serve. I mean, that's difficult for return. I think she have the fastest serve in the tour for the moment. Is always more difficult to play against these kinds of players because you know once you lose your serve, can be really dangerous. Of course, I need to really concentrate on her service game because when we have the opportunity, I have to take," Zheng on the Parks challenge.

"There's a couple of times in the first set I got a 0-30 opportunity, but I didn't take it, and I couldn't make the break. Once I make the break, I think that's the difference in this match," she further added. Zheng and Swiatek met in the fourth round of Roland Garros and the second round of San Diego last year, with the Pole winning both matches in three sets. "First time when I meet her, she was No.1 in the world, I was coming from nowhere. First time for me to play in that atmosphere. I think now I get little bit more experience. I wish in the next match I can have good performance. I want to show my best tennis. You know, in tennis you never know what's going to happen. That's the beauty thing of tennis," Zheng on her head-to-head with Swiatek.