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Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, and Zheng Qinwen will be playing at next week's Berlin Ladies Open in the lead-up to Wimbledon later this month. The tennis community, however, is at odds with the women's singles draw at the WTA 500 tournament as they believe that it's full of skewed match-ups.
Sabalenka and Gauff competed in the French Open summit clash a week ago, with the American taking the women's singles title in a three-setter. They will get their grasscourt season underway in Berlin as the top two seeds. The 500-level event is packed with top 10 players such as Jessica Pegula, Jasmine Paolini, Zheng Qinwen, among other big names.
The singles draw for the grasscourt event was released earlier on Saturday (June 14). Many tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter) were upset at some of the match-ups though, due to a variety of reasons. They took exception at Aryna Sabalenka and Zheng Qinwen being pitted against each other for the fourth time in 2025, if their reaction is anything to go by.
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"Sabalenka and Zheng in draws:" one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter) while attaching a meme.
"Sabalenka VS Zheng again and again? so tired of it…" one more fan insisted.
"Ridiculous. Every time Zheng vs. Sabalenka," another insisted.
Another fan, meanwhile, rued the fact that Elena Rybakina will face fifth-seeded Zheng in the first round before potentially taking on Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. Coco Gauff had received a relatively kinder quarter, according to them, as she is projected to face eighth-seeded Paula Badosa for a place in the semifinals.
"Ryba with a nighmare draw, Coco with a cakedraw, It's the same, all the time," they complained.
Here are a few more reactions to the women's singles draw at the 2025 Berlin Ladies Open from the tennis community on social media:
"Lmaooooo im sorry but need winwen to withdraw," one fan wrote.
"Sabalenka’s quarter is a joke or a set up?" another claimed rhetorically.
"Naomi and samsung always playing," one more fan wrote.
Aryna Sabalenka and Zheng Qinwen have faced off three times on the WTA Tour in 2025
Aryna Sabalenka and Zheng Qinwen have been taking each other thrice this year already. The World No. 1 has won two of their three encounters, beating the Chinese in the quarterfinals of the Miami Open and the French Open. The World No. 5 secured her lone victory against her higher-ranked opponent in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open.
Overall, Zheng trails Sabalenka by a big margin of 1-7 in their head-to-head meetings on the WTA Tour. The Belarusian beat the 22-year-old to nab her first Major title at the 2023 Australian Open. She has since gotten on top of their rivalry by winning their matches at the 2024 US Open, the 2024 Beijing Open, and the 2024 WTA Finals.
