China's Zheng Qinwen hits a return against Greece's Maria Sakkari during their women's singles match on day three of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Jan 19, 2022. (PAUL CROCK / AFP)
The future of Chinese tennis looks bright again after teenager Zheng Qinwen upset former major winner Sloane Stephens on Tuesday to continue her upswing on the women's pro circuit.
As an obvious underdog who only cracked the top 100 in January, Zheng secured the biggest win of her young career so far by stunning 2017 US Open champion Stephens, 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, in the opening round at the clay-court WTA 500 Charleston Open in South Carolina.
Zheng Qinwen, who reached a career-high ranking of No 72 this week, was previously 0-4 against top-50 opponents, with all four of those defeats coming this year. Her previous best win in terms of ranking also came on clay, a surface on which she has won four ITF singles titles
Zheng's convincing victory over the tournament's 2016 winner served up another example of the rise of China's next gen following men's prodigy Shang Juncheng's history-making main-draw appearance at last month's Indian Wells tournament in California.
Zheng, who reached a career-high ranking of No 72 this week, was previously 0-4 against top-50 opponents, with all four of those defeats coming this year. Her previous best win in terms of ranking also came on clay, a surface on which she has won four ITF singles titles.
Zheng beat then-world No 54 Liudmilla Samsonova of Russia in July to register her first tour-level main-draw win at the WTA Palermo Ladies Open in Italy.
"It was a great challenge for me. To beat a top-50 ranked opponent on the tour for the first time means a lot to me," Zheng said after overcoming a slump in the rain-affected second set before sealing victory in ruthless fashion in the third.
"It feels like I've stepped over a big hurdle. Yet, I still have a lot of room for improvement and I will keep working hard from here," said the 19-year-old, a native of Hubei province.
Zheng will face Russia's Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round as she bids to continue her climb up the world rankings.
After collecting eight ITF titles over 17 months, Zheng impressed on her step up to WTA level during the tour's Australian swing early this year. She reached her first WTA semifinal in Melbourne at a warm-up event for the Australian Open before fighting from the qualifiers into the second round at the year's first major in her Grand Slam debut.
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Zheng also showcased her ferocious attacking power in narrow defeats to more established rivals over the past few months. They included a third-set tiebreak loss to 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez in Monterrey last month, and a seesaw battle against former world No 1 Angelique Kerber at Indian Wells, where Zheng failed to convert a 4-1 lead in the decider.
Those losses, however, have taught her to maintain her focus throughout the course of a match, and against Stephens her newfound grit was in evidence.
Even with Stephens coming back strong following a 30-minute rain delay in the second set, Zheng managed to produce her best tennis in the final set, losing just nine points to the American who is currently ranked 36th in the world.
"I kept myself from thinking too much about the errors I made in the second set, only trying to stay concentrated on the final set and trying to play one point at a time. The result was better this time," said Zheng, who owns a 16-6 win-loss record this year.
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Developed at a Beijing academy under the guidance of Carlos Rodriguez, the former coach of Chinese legend Li Na, Zheng has modeled her game on the aggressive style of two-time Grand Slam champion Li, whose video highlights Zheng studied on a daily basis growing up.
During the 2018 Wimbledon championship, Zheng was invited to dinner with Li, who retired in 2014 due to injury, alongside her compatriots Wang Xinyu and Wang Xiyu, and Japanese star Naomi Osaka.
After learning how to be a good athlete and a "correct person" under the tutelage of Rodriguez, Zheng began training in Barcelona on clay with Spanish coach Pere Riba, a former ATP Tour player.
"I see the game more clearly (after working with him)," Zheng told wtatennis.com. "A lot of people told me I'm hitting hard, but I just hit for power. My coach put a lot of strategy in my mind, being consistent, be solid, and if you want to hit hard, OK, but choose the right ball. He put a lot of knowledge in my head and that made me get better and helps me win these difficult matches."
Now with her game becoming more complete as she gains experience on the pro circuit, the ambitious teen is shooting for the top 30 by the end of this year.
"I know it's quite difficult but I believe that my level is there," she said. "At the moment I have to get through match by match, point by point. I think I have the level to be there."
