Zheng has some extra inspiration after Li Na's surprise visit at the Australian Open
Zheng Qinwen of China celebrates after defeating compatriot Wang Yafan during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. Credit: AP/Andy Wong
MELBOURNE, Australia — Zheng Qinwen had just regaled the Rod Laver Arena crowd about her memories of Li Na's triumph in the Australian Open final when she had a surprise visitor.
In the brief time on court between her 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (8) win over fellow Chinese player Wang Yafan in a tense tiebreaker Saturday and Shang Juncheng's match against Carlos Alcaraz, Zheng was asked about her tennis inspiration.
The U.S. Open quarterfinalist said she'd watched Li win that 2014 final live on TV, and had watched it again at least 10 times since then.
Unknown to her, tournament organizers had invited Li along to watch the center court program that featured the all-China women's singles match followed by Shang, an 18-year-old wildcard entry in the men's draw.
Li, the first woman from Asia to win a Grand Slam singles title, was visiting to mark a decade since her title in Australia.
She won the French Open in 2011 and lost two finals in Australia before becoming champion at Melbourne Park.
Zheng said Li's visit was a total surprise.
In this Jan. 25, 2014, file photo, Li Na, of China, holds the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy after defeating Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in their women's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia. Credit: AP/Andrew Brownbill
“She just (said) congratulations,” Zheng said. “I was feeling super happy to meet her and have the chance to talk with her because I never talked with her in person. That was feeling really special for me.”
The 21-year-old Zheng was even more complimentary after seeing Li, saying: “You know, I feel she’s much more beautiful than ... when I saw her on TV before."
The Zheng-Wang match lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes and preceded compatriot Shang's loss to Wimbledon champion Alcaraz.
Zheng had a chance to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third but was unable to convert, and needed two match points to clinch it in the tiebreaker.
Zheng Qinwen of China celebrates after defeating compatriot Wang Yafan in their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. Credit: AP/Andy Wong
Wang eventually netted a backhand volley to end a 25-shot rally, the longest of the match.
“That was really difficult tiebreaker. We gave our best,” Zheng said. “She never gives up. She always gets the ball back. I felt a lot of pressure in this match.”
Zheng hadn't made it past the second round in her two previous trips to Melbourne Park, but has experience in the second week at Roland Garros and the U.S. Open.
Now the draw is opening up for her to make a deeper run. All the past major winners in this quarter, including 2022 Wimbledon champion and last year's Australian Open runner-up Elena Rybakina, were gone before the fourth round.
So Zheng will next play No. 95-ranked Oceane Dodin, who beat Clara Burel 6-2, 6-4 in an all-French encounter and is past the second round for the first time in 20 Grand Slam tournaments.
The winner of that will advance to a quarterfinal against either No. 26 Jasmine Paolini or Anna Kalinskaya, who hadn't been past the third round until her win over 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens on Saturday.
Zheng is feeling more at home in Melbourne, saying there's more support from Chinese fans than any of the Slams.
And Li is among them.
“We met once before when I was a junior, but not single-to-single, face-to-face,” Zheng said. “I didn’t have the chance to talk with her, but today is the real first time we talk with each other.”
And Li's advice: “Yeah. She said to me don’t think too much, just keep simple. I think that’s right now what I need to do.”
