Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open.
The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula.
Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which began in 1968.
Photo: AFP
In a dramatic change of fortune, the former top-25 player who has been plagued by injury, has now won four matches in seven days without dropping a set.
Speaking after a dominant 6-4, 6-2 victory over Magdalena Frech in the round-of-16, Zhang laid bare the pain she endured as she suffered loss after loss.
“Coming to Beijing I had a lot of pressure and was nervous because I had lost 24 matches,” said Zhang, who has reached two Grand Slam singles quarter-finals, in 2016 at Australia and Wimbledon in 2019.
“I had no idea how to win and I didn’t want to lose another, especially with all the Chinese fans,” she said. “When I think about this, I’m really sad. Walking back to the locker room, I didn’t know if I should continue or not before this tournament.”
Zhang was encouraged to carry on playing singles because she was still winning matches in doubles, in which she is a two-time major champion.
She reached the women’s doubles final at the US Open last month with France’s Kristina Mladenovic.
Zhang felt she had a chance to snap her losing streak in Beijing because she feels completely at home on the hard courts, where she has played many times down the years.
Zhang is popular among other players in the locker room and said that their support, along with that of her coaching team, pulled her back from the brink of quitting.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka this week said that it was emotional to see Zhang win again.
“Sometimes I lost the faith because the good result never came, but my coach said he trusted me. He said: ‘For sure one day, if you win one, you can continue to win a lot of matches,’” Zhang said. “It helped me a lot, a lot. If someone had told me to retire, maybe I’m done.”
In the women’s doubles, seventh seeds Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia advanced to the quarter-finals when their opponents Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic and Badosa pulled out.
Additional reporting by staff writer
BUMRAH WATCH: Captain Jasprit Bumrah left the SCG for scans for back spasms and although he returned to the ground, there was no word on if he would play Rishabh Pant’s blistering counterattack yesterday capped a chaotic second day of the fifth and final Test between Australia and India, with 15 wickets falling and the star bowler of the series leaving the Sydney Cricket Ground with an ambulance escort. Yet the Border-Gavaskar trophy still remains very much in the balance as India reached 141-6, holding a 145-run lead over Australia with three days remaining. “Low-scoring games like this, it just heightens the pressure within it, so long way still to go,” Australia coach Andrew McDonald said. “There’s gonna be plenty of cricket, so we’ll see what happens.” Australia were bowled out for
Elena Rybakina’s Kazakhstan yesterday dumped defending champions Germany out of the United Cup with world No. 2 Alexander Zverev sidelined by an arm injury barely a week away from the Australian Open. The upset in Perth sent the Kazakhs into the semi-finals of the 18-nation tournament. In Sydney, women’s world No. 2 Iga Swiatek led Poland into the last eight by winning a rematch of her 2023 French Open final against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. Britain also progressed to the quarter-finals with Katie Boulter’s dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki enough to guarantee they won their group. The US and
Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek yesterday beat Elena Rybakina in straight sets to take Poland into the final of the mixed-teams United Cup with victory over Kazakhstan. Last year’s runners-up face the US today for the title in Sydney after they beat the Czech Republic in the other semi-final. “This win makes me really proud,” Swiatek said after seeing off Rybakina 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 to give Poland an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie. It was a statement of intent from the world number two with the first major of the year to start on Jan. 12. “It is perfect preparation for the
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu of China yesterday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, while Naomi Osaka retired from the women’s singles final with an abdominal injury. Second seeds Wu and Jiang defeated Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US 6-3, 6-4 on ASB Tennis Centre’s Stadium Court in 1 hour, 5 minutes. The WTA 250 victory was 25-year-old Wu’s second WTA Tour title, after winning the 2023 Hua Hin Championships in Thailand with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching. Later that year, Wu and Taiwan’s Hsu Yu-hsiou won the mixed doubles gold at the World
RSS