Zheng Qinwen obtained a shock go to from former Australian Open champion Li Na after reaching the fourth spherical at Melbourne Park for the primary time on Saturday and the excellent news for the Chinese primary doesn’t finish there.

The 21-year-old clinched her place within the second week at Melbourne Park with a 6-4 2-6 7-6(8) win over compatriot Wang Yafan on the identical Rod Laver Arena court docket the place Li misplaced the 2011 and 2013 finals earlier than taking the crown in 2014. “I was super happy to meet her and have the chance to talk with her because I never talked with her in person. That was really special for me,” Zheng advised reporters.

“I think she’s much more beautiful she looks on TV. She said, ‘don’t think too much, just keep it simple’. I think that’s what I need to do right now.” Zheng, who moved to Li’s hometown of Wuhan to coach on the age of eight, stated she watched her hero beat Dominika Cibulkova within the 2014 remaining a minimum of 10 occasions.

Li’s triumph was the primary by a Chinese or Asian participant at Melbourne Park and Zheng’s possibilities of emulating her, though nonetheless modest, have been significantly enhanced by a culling of seeds in her quarter of the draw. Zheng, the twelfth seed, will subsequent meet world quantity 95 Oceane Dodin with both Italian twenty sixth seed Jasmine Paolini or world quantity 75 Anna Kalinskaya awaiting the winner of that tie within the quarter-finals.

When China was investing closely in tennis as a part of a authorities drive to develop a multi-billion greenback sports activities business, the Australian Open began advertising itself because the “Grand Slam of the Asia-Pacific”. It stays the closest factor to a house Grand Slam for Chinese gamers and Zheng stated she had felt the help of her compatriots on court docket this week.

“The Australian Open has a lot more Chinese fans, so I feel like I’m playing at home because the crowd was supporting me more,” she stated. “In the U.S. Open it’s more like half and half. Sometimes they support opponents more, sometimes it’s me. It’s a totally different atmosphere. It’s the first time I’ve reached the fourth round here, so that was special.”

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