Olympic champion Zheng defeated in semifinals at Queen's club

Zheng Qinwen returns a shot during the women's semifinal match between Zheng Qinwen of China and Amanda Anisimova of the United States at the Queen's Club Championships in London, Britain, June 14, 2025. (Photo by Liu Ying/Xinhua)

China's Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen ended her journey at the Queen's Club Championships as the world No. 5 lost to American Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the women's singles semifinals here on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Zheng was obviously not in her best form as she not only struggled in her first serves but also made many unforced errors. Although she managed to level the match while world No. 15 Anisimova also struggled in her own serving games in the second set, the top seed of the WTA 500 grass-court event was not good enough to outplay Anisimova.

"I have to say that I could not concentrate on playing but worried about my shoes," revealed Zheng, who changed her shoes in the sixth game of the deciding set. "I noticed there was something wrong with my shoes, but I didn't realize that the sole has been unglued until the third set."

"They were unused until yesterday, but they have been kept for years as they were from the period I was still playing in juniors," explained Zheng.

As she didn't receive any new pair of grass-court shoes from her sponsor in time, Zheng had to wear the pair which she felt too slippery during the last match again.

In Friday's quarterfinal against home sensation Emma Raducanu, Zheng asked for a timeout in the first set to change for a pair of new shoes before breaking Raducanu for the first time.

"I couldn't keep going as I have slipped a few times," Zheng explained after Friday's match. "Since I arrived here, I was wearing the shoes from last year's Wimbledon. I know exactly when I should change shoes either on the hard court or the clay court, but I'm not sure while playing on grass. I did ask for opinion from my coach ahead of my first match. He said maybe later and I felt all right yesterday."

Zheng admitted that all details mattered and she has learned a lesson. She just hoped that next time she could prepare well and wouldn't be affected by the same kind of issue.

Anisimova will face German qualifier Tatjana Maria in Sunday's final as the 37-year-old mom of two beat Australian Open champion Madison Keys on Saturday.