In a match in the second round of the 2025 Australian Open women's singles on the 15th local time, Zheng Qinwen, a 22-year-old Chinese player who won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics last year, was swept by the German women's player Sigmund, who ranked 97th in the world women's singles, 6-7 (3:7), 3-6. Zheng Qinwen, who reached the Australian Open final last year, is now out of the second round.

Zheng Qinwen was eliminated and stopped in the second round of the Australian Open women's singles

Zheng Qinwen, the world's No. 5 women's singles player, is ranked fifth seed at the Australian Open, and was defeated by Sigmund in straight sets after a fierce battle of 2 hours and 16 minutes today, becoming the first top 10 seeded women's singles player to be eliminated at this Australian Open.

German woman Sigmund

Reuters reported after the match that the 36-year-old Sigmund became the third oldest player in Australian Open history to beat the WTA women's singles world top five in the past 30 years. The first two record holders were American diva Serena Williams, who defeated Halep, then world No. 2 in women's singles, at the 2021 Australian Open at the age of 39. Then Serena Williams defeated Halep in 2019 at the age of 37.

Zheng Qinwen was eliminated and stopped in the second round of the Australian Open women's singles

Since 1990, only four women's singles players have been able to beat the top five WTA women's singles world rankings at a Grand Slam at the age of 36 and above. Sigmund became the first unseeded German women's singles player to beat a top-five player since Marlene Weingartner at the 2003 Australian Open.