Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil) won her third and perhaps the most prestigious title of her WTA career, after defeating Qinwen Zheng (China) in the final of the Huafa Technology WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai. The Brazilian won the match after two tiebreaks in the final – 7:6(11), 7:6(4). The WTA Elite Trophy tournament has a prize fund of 2.4 million USD. The match lasted 2 hours and 51 minutes, and although it was a final, it turned out to be the longest match of the tournament.
The 86-minute first set featured just two breaks, both achieved with outstanding forehand winners down the line. The Chinese tennis player broke first to take a 3:2 lead. But then Beatriz Haddad Maia equalized for 4:4. The biggest drama in the set came in the tiebreak, with Qinwen Zheng took the first lead, but then the Brazilian pulled away for 5-3. She then squandered her first point of the set, but in the end her resilience in the heat of the moment earned her the win.
The intensity level of the match dropped early in the second set – especially for Qinwen Zheng, who missed serving in the third game. But carried on the wings by the audience and strongly supported by the fans, she made a break for 3:3. And when Beatriz Haddad Maia was serving for the title at 5:4, the Chinese again found the strength to equalize and send the set to the tiebreak. There, Beatriz Haddad Maia’s solid serving proved decisive and she won seven of the last nine points to triumph 7-4.
The trophy was Beatriz Haddad Maia’s first at a higher level than the WTA 250, her first on hard courts and her first since Birmingham 2022. She arrived in Zhuhai with a series of three losses in four matches – a bad run that began after a bathroom incident in which she injured her hands with shower in Guadalajara. But she is clearly already rediscovering her best form to remain unbeaten this week. For Chinese tennis player Qinwen Zheng, it was also the end of a streak of eight consecutive victories.