Zheng Qinwen pulls out of Japan Open due to shoulder injury after missing Wuhan

New Delhi: Zheng Qinwen will miss her second straight WTA event after pulling out of Japan Open with a shoulder injury, following her withdrawal from the Wuhan Open for the same reason.

Zheng recently achieved a significant milestone when she won the China Open, becoming the first Chinese player to emerge victorious in the event. However, a gruelling stretch of time spent on the court since her return from a previous injury forced her to pull out of Wuhan.

She will now be missing the Japan Open, a WTA 250 tournament. However, she is scheduled to play in the WTA 250 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open in November, which is one of the final two events of the year before the WTA Finals at Indian Wells.

During the China Open, Zheng spent 15 hours and 16 minutes on the court during the seven matches, which is the most by any player at any event this year. She entered the tournament as a wildcard and defeated the likes of Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals, Elise Mertens in the semifinals and Mirra Andreeva in the title clash for her first WTA 1000 title.

Speaking on her withdrawal from Wuhan, Zheng highlighted the gruelling schedule.

“I’m very sorry to share that I will be withdrawing from this year’s Wuhan Open,” Zheng said, as quoted by WTA. “Wuhan is where my tennis dream began, and the Wuhan Open is also where I made my breakthrough at the WTA 1000 level. I have always looked forward to competing in front of my hometown fans.

“Since returning from injury, I have played a demanding stretch of tennis over the past month and a half, competing at the US Open, the Billie Jean King Cup and the China Open,” Zheng said in a statement after withdrawing from Wuhan. “My body is feeling very fatigued after this intense run of matches.”

The Chinese player has also won 13 of her last 14 tour-level matches since suffering a qualifying defeat in Toronto, underlining the consistency of her recent return to form.