Qinwen Zheng defended her title at the WTA 250 Palermo Ladies Open

The 21-year-old Chinese tennis player Qinwen Zheng defended her title at the WTA 250 Palermo Ladies Open clay tennis tournament with prize money of 259,303 ISD.

The top-seeded Qinwen Zheng prevailed in the final over second-seeded Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic) by 2-1 (6:4, 4:6, 6:2) in 2:49 hours.

In the decisive third set, the two exchanged two breaks each, but the Chinese took her opponent’s serve again in the tenth game and closed the match.

Qinwen Zheng achieved her tenth consecutive victory at the tournament and captured the third trophy of her career.

“It was a really tough match because she’s an amazing tennis player. There were a lot of ups and downs … I tried to be more aggressive in the third set and I’m happy that it worked out’, said Qinwen Zheng after the match.

Karolina Muchova, a finalist at Roland Garros last year, was hoping to win a second career title in just her third tournament after a 10-month layoff due to a wrist injury.