Having weathered multiple setbacks and hurdles, China's 20-year-old tennis wunderkind Zheng Qinwen has at long last made a remarkable breakthrough in her fledgling career by bagging her first-ever Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles title. 

A wild card in the field as a late entry, Zheng outclassed local favorite Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in the final of the Palermo Ladies Open in Italy on Sunday, becoming the 12th player from the Chinese mainland to win a WTA singles title. 

"I won my first WTA match here and also my first WTA title," beamed Zheng during her winner's speech. "But you probably don't know that I won my first ITF (International Tennis Federation) championship in Italy."  

"This is really special for me. This is my first WTA 250 championship. I will remember that," added Zheng, who also becomes the youngest player from the Chinese mainland to win a WTA tour title. 

Zheng was named the 2022 Newcomer of the Year by WTA after a sensational run at the French Open, where she upset two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep and French number one Alize Cornet en route to the last 16. 

She had high hopes to progress further in the new season, but her fitness and form left a lot to be desired. Despite switching coaches recently to seek a change, she had suffered four consecutive defeats. 

Under immense pressure, the young Chinese player, a runner-up to Liudmila Samsonova in her first final in Tokyo last year, finally managed to turn the tide by clinching the title in Palermo, thus putting an end to her losing streak and restoring her confidence. 

Zheng's thrilling breakthrough evoked memories of her compatriot Li Na, who was the first Asian to win a Grand Slam singles title at the French Open. Both of them were born in central China's Hubei Province, and Zheng revealed that she grew up watching videos of Li and took her "idol's" historic win in France as an inspiration.

"She's my idol, and I always think about that," said Zheng. "In that moment, I was still a child, and then she gave me a dream that, oh, the Asia player, the Chinese player, also can win the Grand Slam, and in that moment, that I have the dream in my heart that I want to do it like her." 

Zheng clearly inherits Li's winning mentality on and off the court. She was the first Chinese player to resume international travel in 2020, globe-trotting Europe by car with her mother and team despite coronavirus outbreaks. 

"We were driving from Barcelona to Germany, to Italy, to the Czech Republic," she told the WTA during an interview in March. "Seventeen hours, 22 hours plus stopping to eat. Looking back, it's like, 'Wow, I can't believe I did that.' Spending one day and a half in a car just to play a tournament – not even a WTA, an ITF. But it was like an adventure. It was a really good experience for me. 

"Because going to every tournament was not easy, you really wanted to take your chance. I didn't want to lose in the first round and drive another 22 hours going home. You wanted to do something to justify all the driving."

Zheng will next head to North America to compete in a series of warm-up matches in readiness for the highly anticipated U.S. Open at the end of August. Her first stop will be the WTA500 Washington event at the end of this month.