Damien Kayat previews Venus Williams vs Qinwen Zheng and Iga Swiatek vs Danielle Collins in selected round of 32 matches of the Western and Southern Open on the 16th of August 2023.
2023 WTA Tour
WTA 1000 Series
Western and Southern Open – Cincinnati Open
Selected Round of 32 matches – 16th August
Venus Williams 39/10 | Qinwen Zheng 17/100
This looks set to be a fascinating clash of generations, with 43-year-old comeback queen Venus Williams taking on the up-and-coming Chinese player Qinwen Zheng. Venus Williams could literally be Qinwen Zheng’s mother.
The 23-year age gap between the two players speaks volumes to the grit and fighting spirit of Williams. What does she really have to gain from this return to action? She must really love the game and her opening victory against Veronika Kudermetova showed she most definitely can still play it.
Williams fought from a double-break down in each set to beat the Russian in straight-sets, registering her first win against a top 20 player since 2019. Now she will be looking to win back-to-back matches on the WTA Tour for the first time since this event in 2019.
She moved amazingly well against Kudermetova and you could just feel the joy oozing off the undisputed legend. How long can she keep this dream alive?
20-year-old Qinwen Zheng has emerged as one for the future over the last 12 months or so. She reached her maiden WTA final at last year’s Japan Open (a WTA 500 event). She has enjoyed bouts of intermittent success during this year’s campaign.
She reached the semi-finals in Abu Dhabi before an excellent quarterfinal run at the Italian Open. That performance at WTA 1000 level helped propel her into the world’s top 20 for the first time in her career. She recently won her maiden WTA title in Palermo but she is coming off back-to-back early exits in Washington and Montreal.
But she seemed to find something in her opening match against Belarusian Sasnovich. That straight-sets victory took her 2023 hardcourt record to 11-8 and she will be confident going into this match. She is a tireless worker who will look to keep the veteran American on the move.
Verdict: Zheng to win in straight-sets – 49/100
This will unsurprisingly be the first career meeting between these two. I think it’s easy to get carried away with the sentimental option. Williams was undeniably impressive against Kudermetova but it’s going to be tough for the 43-year-old to keep that level of consistent physicality this week.
Qinwin Zheng is a livewire who eats up the ground avariciously. I think Williams is going to struggle to match that level of pure dynamism.
Iga Swiatek 17/100 | Danielle Collins 38/10
Iga Swiatek will still be trying to unpack how she threw away that semi-final against Jessica Pegula last week. I personally think the rain delays had their part to play. The Pole- who recently won her 4th title of the year in her home country- looked absolutely shattered by the end of that match.
I think the night schedule just caught up to the reigning World No.1. I actually thought Swiatek would have been tempted to skip this week’s action with the US Open approaching. Swiatek has played a ton of tennis this year and could have done with a healthy two-week break ahead of her Flushing Meadows title defence.
Regardless, that semi-final run in Montreal ensured that the incredible Pole has now spent 72 consecutive weeks atop the world rankings. Perhaps she didn’t want Sabalenka and Rybakina to gain any ground in those rankings.
29-year-old American Danielle Collins grabbed some headlines after an unseemly on-court spat with Maria Sakkari. The American told Sakkari to ‘shut her mouth’ after a fairly innocuous incident. She would then go on to further antagonize the Greek on Instagram.
It was all slightly petty and distracts from the fact that Collins looked quite solid in Montreal. The 2022 Aussie Open finalist has struggled to find any real consistency this year. Her best result of the season was a semi-final run at an understrength Austin event. But the hard-hitting hardcourt specialist seemed to be back to her best in Montreal, beating the trio of Svitolina, Sakkari and Fernandez (all in straight-sets).
She lost in a tight quarterfinal to the World No.1 and she will be plotting revenge this week. She seems to have carried over that improved form this week, absolutely thrashing Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-1.
Verdict: Swiatek to win in three – 31/10
Swiatek leads the head-to-head with Collins 3-1. She thrashed the American in Qatar earlier this year and Collins will no doubt be encouraged by her improved showing in Montreal.
Lest we forget, Collins took down the Pole in straight-sets in the 2022 Aussie Open semi-final. She is one of the few players with the power to actually go toe-to-toe with Swiatek.
But can she match Swiatek’s consistency this week? I can foresee a very similar match to Montreal. Collins’ power will allow her to match the Pole for some time. But Swiatek’s greater consistency and variety should see her through in the end.
