2026 Australian Open: Double Crown Victory! Li Xiaohui Wins Her First Grand Slam Singles Title in the Wheelchair Category

On January 31st Beijing time, the 2026 Australian Open wheelchair women's singles final was held at Kia Arena. Chinese third seed Li Xiaohui triumphed over the Dutch legend De Groot, nicknamed the "Queen of Wheelchair Tennis," with a straight-sets victory of 6-1, 6-2, halting De Groot’s 16 consecutive Grand Slam final wins and securing her own first Grand Slam singles crown, making her the double titleholder of this tournament. This marks the first Australian Open women's singles title in the history of the Chinese wheelchair tennis team and the second Grand Slam singles title following Wang Ziying’s 2025 Wimbledon victory.

Li Xiaohui (Photo: Li Jianyi)

In yesterday’s semifinal, Li Xiaohui battled world No.1 Ueda Yui for 2 hours and 14 minutes, overcoming a deficit of 3-5 and 1-5 in the deciding set tiebreak to win 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (10-8), marking her toughest match on the path to the title. Later that day, she paired with compatriot Wang Ziying in the women’s doubles final to defeat second seeds Zhu Zhenzhen and Ueda Yui in straight sets, successfully defending their doubles crown and earning their fourth Grand Slam title as a team.

Li Xiaohui/Wang Ziying claim the women’s doubles title (Photo: Visual China)

While already showing dominance in doubles, Li Xiaohui continues to push forward in singles. At this Australian Open, she won the singles title in her first appearance in a Grand Slam singles final, demonstrating an even stronger form for the new season.

With the conclusion of the wheelchair events at this Australian Open, the Chinese team achieved remarkable results: Li Xiaohui crowned double champion, Wang Ziying secured the women’s doubles title and reached the singles semifinals, and Zhu Zhenzhen finished as doubles runner-up. Guo Luoyao and Ji Zhenxu unfortunately exited in the first round of both singles and doubles.

(Text and editing by Wang Fei)