Zheng Qinwen beat Elise Mertens 7–5, 6–2 in Beijing’s semifinal on October 10, 2026, becoming the first Chinese player to reach the China Open final. Chinese players had lost all seven previous semifinals at the event; Zheng supplied the first win on the eighth attempt.
After resisting Mertens’ late first-set recovery, Zheng won eight of the match’s final ten games. She struck 32 winners against 16 unforced errors in 1 hour and 32 minutes, a two-to-one ratio between those two recorded totals.
The wild card had played third sets in each of her opening four matches, but followed a straight-sets quarterfinal win over Svitolina with another two-set finish. Her cumulative match time through six rounds stood at 13 hours and 33 minutes.
This was her 11th tour final and second at WTA 1000 level. Her October 11 opponent was Mirra Andreeva, a 6–2, 6–2 winner over Nikola Bartunkova. Zheng had recovered from a set down to win their earlier meeting in the 2024 Beijing quarterfinals.
