A daylong, nationwide buy-one-get-one-free promotion by Chinese milk tea brand Chagee, launched in honor of Zheng Qinwen becoming the first Chinese woman to win the China Open title on Sunday, saw its online ordering systems crash amid inundated orders.
The company made the announcement via its official account on microblogging platform Weibo the night of Zheng’s win, saying the sales promotion would run throughout Monday, calling it a “new (moment) in history worth raising a glass to together.” The tennis player has been a Chagee brand ambassador since 2024.
The sudden traffic surge beginning around 8 a.m. Monday crashed the brand’s mini program on super app WeChat, leaving many users unable to place orders. The crash sparked heated discussion online, with a related hashtag on Weibo attracting over 180 million views as of Tuesday and rising to the platform’s trending topics list. A check by Sixth Tone later on Monday found the problem had been resolved.
At the China Open, Zheng defeated Russia’s Mirra Andreeva, the French Open champion, in two straight sets, catapulting her to the 23rd-best women’s tennis player in the world. Last June, Zheng ranked world No. 4, a career high, but injuries over the past year forced her to stop competing and caused her ranking to drop to No. 160. She entered this year’s China Open as a wildcard, invited directly by the organizing committee.
After the win, several photos of Zheng lifting the China Open trophy were posted on her official Weibo account. A caption alongside the photos reads: “The weight of this trophy is the weight of a dream, dedicated to the younger me who always worked hard for that dream.”
According to domestic media outlet ChinaStarMarket.cn, Zheng currently holds 14 brand endorsements spanning cosmetics, sportswear, luxury accessories, cars, and technology, among others. Her endorsements include international brands such as Nike, Dior, Rolex, and Wilson, as well as Chinese brands such as Chagee, Alibaba-owned digital payment system Alipay, and large language model Qwen, also owned by Alibaba.
During Zheng’s break from competition, none of her brand endorsements were terminated, according to domestic media outlet Jiemian News. Instead, many companies increased their support, with Chagee upgrading her title from Global Health Ambassador to Global Brand Ambassador, and Wilson launching a Zheng-inspired signature tennis racket.
According to Forbes’ world tennis player earnings list, released in August and covering the 12 months prior, Zheng was the only Chinese player in the top 10, ranking seventh globally with $22.6 million — with over 97% reportedly coming from brand endorsements.
Zheng also earned roughly 474 million yuan ($71 million) in prize money and endorsements between 2024 and 2026, matching in three years what Chinese tennis legend Li Na made over her entire 15-year career.
Zheng’s commercial breakthrough came in 2024, when she finished runner-up at the Australian Open, her best Grand Slam result and the second-best by a Chinese player after Li Na. She went on to win the Paris Olympics women’s singles title that year, becoming China’s first Olympic tennis singles champion.
At the Guangzhou Auto Show in November 2024, Audi’s Chinese sub-brand AUDI named Zheng a brand ambassador. In January 2025, Dior selected her as its global brand ambassador, making her the first Chinese athlete to hold the role.
Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.
(Header image: China’s Zheng Qinwen poses with the trophy after defeating Mirra Andreeva in the women’s singles final of the China Open at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Oct. 11, 2026. Fred Lee/Getty Images/VCG)