Yesterday, at the WTA1000 Indian Wells tennis tournament, Zheng Qinwen did not appear in people's field of vision until the afternoon due to the weather. Fortunately, she lived up to the expectations of many fans, defeating Ukraine's Kostyuk to usher in a three-game winning streak for the first time in the 2025 season. It is worth mentioning that this is also the first time that Zheng Qinwen has reached the quarterfinals at the Indian Wells tennis tournament. Objectively speaking, her ability to achieve such good results is inseparable from her persistence and hard work.

And the day before Zheng Qinwen's success, there was also a Chinese golden flower who won the compatriot derby in a challenger. It is worth mentioning that this was the first victory of the Chinese golden flower in the main event. So, who is this Chinese golden flower? And how will she fare in the 2025 season? And who was this fellow citizen whom she had defeated? Let the humble article take you to see it today.

This Chinese golden flower is Zhang Ying! In the 2024 season, she reached the finals of the Hope Tournament twice, but she didn't have the last laugh. Still, it's enough to show that this player has a certain amount of strength. Due to the low ranking in the world, Zhang Ying can only start from the qualifying round, whether it is the Hope Tournament or the Challenge Tournament. In such a situation, it is not easy for her to achieve good results.

At the end of January 2025, in the first round of the Brisbane Challenge Qualifying Tournament in Australia, Zhang Ying, who appeared in a military uniform, was taken first by Lin Fangan, a Chinese Taipei girl who was far lower than herself. Although in the subsequent game, she won two sets in a row to defeat her opponent and advanced to the danger, but this game was a three-set match, which also indicates that Zhang Ying's tennis journey in the 2025 season will not be smooth. Sure enough, Zhang Ying participated in five tournaments overseas this week, and although she almost always made it to the main draw from the qualifying round, she often stopped in the first round.

This week, Zhang Ying reappeared at the Kyoto Challenge Qualifiers. Although she has yet to win the main draw, she has improved her world rankings. This time, she enjoyed a bye in the first round of qualifying, starting directly from the deciding round. In the decisive round, facing the Japanese player Ayukawa Mana, who is far away from the world ranking of 1000, Zhang Ying defeated her opponent in two straight sets and entered the main match. In the first round of the main event, her opponent was compatriot Ma Yexin. This player had won his first career tour victory last season, and Ma Yexin was far above Zhang Ying in terms of strength and ranking, so many people thought before the game that Zhang Ying would stop in the first round again.

However, in this match, Zhang Ying unexpectedly took the next set. Although Ma Yexin then pulled back a set and stubbornly dragged the game into the deciding set, Zhang Ying finally showed her heroic nature in the deciding set, allowing Ma Yexin to only win three games in this set. After the victory in the compatriot derby, Zhang Ying not only won her first main draw of the 2025 season, but also brought her world ranking back to below 500. It is worth mentioning that Zhang Ying will still encounter a compatriot derby in the next round. This time, her opponent is Wang Meiling. So, in this game, will Zhang Ying stop there, or will she move on? Fans, what do you think?

A lot of times, the world of tennis is really just a teahouse. In this teahouse, there are many, many tea customers who have been here for a long time, and some of them have become quite famous. However, there are always fledgling tea drinkers who come here and look forward to tasting the sweet tea with their own efforts. And the author is just a small scholar in the corner of this teahouse who tells the stories of these tea customers in obscurity. I hope my article can bring some fresh information to all fans. Whether it's compliments or criticisms, maybe it's just to be able to get me far. That's it for today, and it continues tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin Jushi)