Number 3 seed Wang Qiang clinched the second WTA title of her career by beating Yulia Putintseva 6-1 6-2 to become the second Chinese player in a row to win the final at the Guangzhou International Women’s Open without dropping a single set in the whole week. Wang Qiang won her previous title on home soil at the Jiangxi Open in Nanchang last July, where she defeated Zheng Saisai.
The 26-year-old Chinese player has become the fourth home player in the history of this International tournament to win this title following in the footsteps of her compatriots Li Na (2004), Yan Zi (2005) and Zhang Shuai (2013 and 2017). With this title Wang is the new Chinese number 1 player with a career-high ranking inside the world’s to 40. Putintseva failed to convert two game points after a double fault in the final game of the match.
Wang broke serve five times and hit 25 winners to 16 unforced errors. She fended off all three break points she faced in the first two games of the second set. The first four games went on serve before Wang reeled off the final four games to win the second set 6-2.
Wang dropped just 18 games in 10 sets during the week. The Chinese player is coached by Peter McNamara. She reached her maiden semifinal in Hong Kong in 2017 losing to Anastasya Pavluchenkova and clinched the WTA 125k Series title in Zhengzhou. She lost to Elina Svitolina at this year’s US Open. On clay she lost to Ashleigh Barty in the quarter final in Strasbourg. At Premier Mandatory level she lost to Simona Halep in the Round of 16 at Indian Wells.
