Zheng Qinwen wins first career WTA title in Palermo

FLASHBACK: In Februray in Doha, Zheng Qinwen hit one of the shots of the year against Maria Sakkari.

The first of many? Zheng Qinwen will sure hope so. The 2022 WTA Newcomer of the Year outlasted Italy's Jasmine Paolini in three sets 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in the final of the Palermo Ladies Open on Sunday to win her first career WTA singles title.

The 20-year-old from China, a runner-up last fall in Tokyo to Liudmila Samsonova in her first final, hit 26 winners and broke Paolini's serve four times in two hours and 14 minutes. Despite serving at just 46%, Zheng struck five aces and saved five of the eight break points against her.

After she double bageled former Top 10 player and 2012 Roland Garros finalist Sara Errani in the first round, Zheng took the long road to her first title. A wild card in the field as a late entry, the world No. 26 needed three sets to beat Diane Parry in the second round, Mayar Sherif in the semifinals, and Paolini in the final.

The win was also fittingly full-circle, as Zheng made her WTA main-draw debut at the tournament two years ago as a qualifier.

"I won my first WTA match here and also my first WTA title," Zheng said in her winner's speech, "but you probably don't know that I won my first ITF championship in Italy. This is really special for me. This is my first WTA 250 championship. I will remember that."

Having long been based in Barcelona under former coach Pere Riba, Zheng has had a decent measure of success on clay already in her young career. Four of her eight career ITF titles came on the surface; at tour level, she reached the fourth round of Roland Garros last June, losing to eventual champion Iga Swiatek, and also reached the quarterfinals at the Internazional BNL d'Italia this spring.

Now coached by Belgian Wim Fissette, China's top player snapped a four-match losing skid with her run in Palermo. Five wins in a row marked the first time that she won back-to-back matches since that aforementioned run in Rome.

Italian No. 3 Paolini, who upset No. 1 seed Daria Kasatkina in the quarterfinals, dropped to 1-2 in her career in WTA finals with the loss. She was bidding to be the first home player to win Palermo since Roberta Vinci in 2013.