It was a mixed start to the Pan Pacific Open for Qinwen Zheng as she secured a win on the court, but definitely lost in the fashion stakes. The 22-year-old won nine games in a row to seal a 7-5 6-0 victory over home favourite Moyuka Uchijima, as she continues to build towards next month’s WTA Finals in Riyadh.

It wasn’t all straightforward though, with Zhang erratic in the early going and actually having to break serve to stay in first set at 4-5, before upping the ante to move into the quarter-finals in just 76 minutes.

But she was left indebted to her opponent for pointing out a wardrobe malfunction before the match got started.

As the pair posed for a pre-match photograph, Uchijima noticed that Zheng had left the label on the back of her new outfit. She initially tried to take it off for the Chinese star, but she walked off to the baseline before she could grab it.

The smiling 23-year-old did manage to point out the accessory though, and Zheng was soon laughing herself when she realised the error. She removed the label shortly before her first serve of the match, to the amusement of the commentator.

“Uchijima won the toss and opted to receive, but I think she was just explaining that she’s (Zheng) got a label on the back of her outfit,” she said. “That’s a nice moment.”

The WTA got in on the fun on social media, posting on their official X account: “We’ve all been there, Qinwen…! Zheng’s opponent Uchijima points out that she left the tag on her top before their match.”

Tennis fans were also tickled, with @KashifRajpoot32 writing: “Oh, the pre-match fashion mishap! Zheng Qinwen, keeping it real on court with a surprise tag along. Fashion statement or just a sneaky extra sponsor?”

The clip has since been viewed more than 55,000 times, but the focus on Zheng is likely to be of a more serious nature on Friday. She takes on former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in the last-eight, as she bids to go one better than 2022 when she was runner up to eventual winner Liudmila Samsonova.