China's Olympic champion makes triumphant return
China's returning "Queen Wen" set the tone for a triumphant National Day holiday by breezing past Emiliana Arango in straight sets in her first match in nearly three months to advance into the third round at the China Open.
Although not 100 percent recovered yet from right elbow surgery in July, Zheng showed little sign of rust on Saturday night as the reigning Olympic champion put on a full display of her aggressive game to beat Columbia's Arango, a world No 50 player, 6-3, 6-2 in 84 minutes at the sold-out Diamond Court in Beijing, making a strong statement of her return at the WTA 1000 tournament.
It was Zheng's first official match since she lost in the first round at Wimbledon to Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic on July 1, due to the nagging elbow injury that had cost her the lethal force in her serves and shots.
