Qinwen Zheng recently returned to tennis in the Middle East.
After injuries forced her out of the US Open and the Australian Open, Zheng returned in Qatar, where she reached the last 16, pushing Elena Rybakina close in a thriller.
Then, rumors circulated that Zheng had split from her coach, Pere Riba, after the Chinese star reportedly unfollowed the Spaniard on social media.
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She’s now been seen with a new coach at Indian Wells.
Qinwen Zheng trains with Marcos Baghdatis at Indian Wells
Zheng has been pictured training with Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis at Indian Wells.
Greek media outlet ‘SDNA‘ describes their partnership as ‘new’ and ‘tentative’, suggesting performances in Indian Wells could determine whether they work together long-term.
Zheng, once ranked as high as fourth in the world, now sits outside the top-20, after injuries derailed her 2025 campaign.
Qinwen Zheng in the WTA Rankings
| Rank | Name | Country | Points |
| 19 | Liudmila Samsonova | Russia | 2,050 |
| 20 | Diana Shnaider | Russia | 1,953 |
| 21 | Elise Mertens | Belgium | 1,936 |
| 22 | Anna Kalinskaya | Russia | 1,813 |
| 23 | Qinwen Zheng | China | 1,758 |
| 24 | Emma Raducanu | Great Britain | 1,645 |
| 25 | Emma Navarro | USA | 1,605 |
| 26 | Jelena Ostapenko | Latvia | 1,600 |
| 27 | Leylah Fernandez | Canada | 1,598 |
| 28 | Marta Kostyuk | Ukraine | 1,583 |
With Baghdatis in her corner, Zheng will want to return to the top 10 as soon as possible.
But is Baghdatis the right fit for Zheng? And how much coaching experience does he have?
Marcos Baghdatis coached another Chinese player
Soon after Baghdatis retired in 2020, he joined Elina Svitolina’s team.
More recently, the Cypriot worked with China’s Yibing Wu.
Wu is a former ATP 500 champion and has been ranked inside the world’s top 60.
It is, however, fair to say that Baghdatis doesn’t have a wealth of coaching knowledge to draw upon.
But that’s not to say he won’t be a good coach, one day.
After all, Baghdatis himself was coached by one of the greats, Patrick Mouratoglou.
Together, Baghdatis and Mouratoglou reached the Australian Open final, as the Frenchman made his first steps into coaching.
Later, Mouratoglou guided Serena Williams to her last 10 Grand Slam singles titles.
Will Baghdatis achieve the same success as a coach, perhaps with Zheng? Only time will tell.
They’ll certainly want to get off to a good start in Indian Wells.
Qinwen Zheng’s route to the Indian Wells title
Zheng has received a BYE and will therefore begin her Indian Wells campaign in round two.
There, she will play Antonia Ruzic or the returning Jennifer Brady.
The former world number four will be expected to win her opener and advance to the third round, where she could meet Karolina Muchova, Elsa Jacquemot, or Anna Bondar.
Of the three players, Muchova would likely provide the toughest challenge.
It won’t get any easier, as former champion Iga Swiatek could await her in the fourth round.
| Round | Highest-ranked potential opponent | Potential seeded opponents |
| 1R (BYE) | – | – |
| 2R | Antonia Ruzic (57) | – |
| 3R | Karolina Muchova (13) | [13] Karolina Muchova |
| 4R | Iga Swiatek (2) | [2] Iga Swiatek, [32] Maria Sakkari |
| QF | Mirra Andreeva (8) | [8] Mirra Andreeva, [9] Elina Svitolina, [19] Liudmila Samsonova, [27] Leylah Fernandez |
| SF | Elena Rybakina (3) | [3] Elena Rybakina, [5] Jessica Pegula, [12] Belinda Bencic, [15] Madison Keys, [20] Emma Navarro, [22] Elise Mertens, [26] Jelena Ostapenko, [28] Marta Kostyuk |
| F | Aryna Sabalenka (1) | [1] Aryna Sabalenka, [4] Coco Gauff, [6] Amanda Anisimova, [7] Jasmine Paolini, [10] Victoria Mboko, [11] Ekaterina Alexandrova, [14] Linda Noskova, [16] Naomi Osaka, [17] Clara Tauson, [18] Iva Jovic, [21] Diana Shnaider, [23] Anna Kalisnkaya, [25] Emma Raducanu, [29] Maya Joint, [30] Xinyu Wang, [31] Alex Eala |
Defending champion Mirra Andreeva, this year’s Australian Open winner Elena Rybakina, and world number one Aryna Sabalenka could then stand between Zheng and the Indian Wells title.
Zheng will need to be at her very best if she is to emerge victorious in California.
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But who knows… If Zheng and Baghdatis hit it off, and she can play as well as she did in Qatar recently, perhaps the 23-year-old could be one to look out for at Indian Wells.
First, she’ll turn her attention to the second round and either Ruzic or Brady, later this week.
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