At the age of 11, Qinwen Zheng watched spellbound as her Chinese compatriot Li Na became the first Asian woman ever to win the Australian Open. A decade on, the 21-year-old is marking the latest anniversary of that historic moment in style.
Zheng, the 12th seed, fought back from a set down against Anna Kalinskaya to reach the last four at Melbourne Park, a 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-1 victory confirming the deepest grand slam run of her career, following last year’s quarter-final finish at the US Open. Long tipped as a future grand slam champion, she will next face Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Linda Noskova, the Czech teenager who stunned top seed Iga Swiatek in the third round.
“I’m so happy right now, really excited,” Zheng enthused in her on-court interview with Jelena Dokic. “It’s the first time for me, I’m really happy to be in the semi-finals, especially with such a good performance.”
That breakthrough, which puts Zheng within two wins of emulating her childhood idol, follows a surprise meeting with Na, who is in town for the legends’ event and greeted her countrywoman with a convivial pat on the derrière as she was performing a television interview. Zheng, who has said she watched the video of Na’s triumph “more than 10 times” as a young girl but had never previously spoken with her, was evidently inspired by the meeting. She has since gone from strength to strength, and next week she will break into the world’s top 10 for the first time – although she was unaware of that impending milestone until informed by Dokic.
“Thanks for letting me know that,” said Zheng, before showing something of Na’s mischievous wit. “Nobody tells me anything.”
Zheng’s hopes of earning a place in the pantheon alongside Na seemed to be in jeopardy early on. She struggled to find her first serve and emerged from the opening set with a win rate of just 42% behind the second, enabling Kalinskaya to bounce back immediately from a pair of early breaks.
“I lost the first set because I got those early breaks [and] then, later on, I’m not able to keep my serve,” said Zheng. “When I lost the first set, directly, I tried to tell myself, ‘Stay focused. Don’t think too much. Just focus right now.’
“The first set proved thinking too much was not helping, and you can’t play your best tennis there.”
Having wiped the mental slate clean, Zheng was a player transformed in the second set, raising her level on serve and showed greater composure, patience and quality in the baseline exchanges. Those virtues were never more evident than in the eighth game, where she converted the only break point of the set by maintaining line and length until the right ball presented itself, at which point she caught out Kalinskaya with a sudden and forceful change of direction.
A similar play earned Zheng an early break in the decider, this time off a razor-sharp return, and from there her clarity of purpose and clean, early ball-striking became irresistible, belief draining rapidly from the Russian as she struggled with a right hip injury that required a medical timeout.
Zheng’s progress in Melbourne has echoed that of Na in 2014, big names toppling all around her until she herself finally became the biggest name left standing, at least in the top half of the draw. For Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka then, read Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Jessica Pegula now.
Nor do the similarities end there: just as Na navigated her way to the title without facing any of her top-20 rivals, so Zheng has arrived in the semi-finals without facing anyone ranked higher than Katie Boulter, the British world No 54.
The omens could not be more encouraging as she prepares to face Yastremska, whose fearless run from qualifying to the last four harks back to Emma Raducanu’s extraordinary title win at the 2021 US Open.
“The feeling is just… I can’t explain in words right now, because there are so many inside,” said Zheng. “Happiness. Of course, I’m proud of myself. But, you know, this is just the beginning.”
It just might be.