Qinwen Zheng credits being ‘at peace’ with recent improvements
Chinese No 1 Qinwen Zheng has put her recent stellar results down to stability and being at peace.
Qinwen’s 2023 goals were complicated by upheaval in her coaching team.
Qinwen advanced to her second consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, and first at the Australian Open, with a 59-minute 6-0, 6-3 victory against Oceane Dodin, and commented about her confidence levels following the win.
She said that she still finds it novel when she faces a player ranked lower than herself having only recently gained the top 20.
“I remember the first time [I] arrive on the tour, and everybody I play has a better ranking than me,” Qinwen said on the court after the match
“Especially when I face the Slam champions, you are going to enter the court and feel that pressure. Sometimes I get overexcited.
“But right now, got these two years’ experience. Like you say, I start to face the people who are lower than me. I come on the court. I feel I have that confidence.
“Of course, you’re excited always to compete, but you can manage the balance of excited how much you need. Right now I just feel more peace than before. I remember that before there was lot of up and downs, right? Now it’s just more stable.
“It’s really important to have the stability. If you got the stability, you have a better chance to win, of course. If you don’t have the stability, it’s like you toss a coin and we will see what’s happen today.
“Now this result shows that I’m not like this. I have those stable in my tennis.”
At the US Open last year, Zheng, 21, made it to the last eight of a major for the first time.
She joins 2014 winner (and two-time runner-up) Li Na, 2010 semifinalist Zheng Jie, and 2016 quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai as the only Chinese players to reach the Melbourne quarterfinals.
Next up for her is the No. 75-ranked Anna Kalinskaya, who overcame the No 26 seed Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-2, with a first Grand Slam semifinal spot up for grabs for the players.
In their lone prior match, Zheng was defeated by Kalinskaya 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in the opening round of Guadalajara 2022.
A new Grand Slam finalist is now assured to emerge from the top half of the draw, following Victoria Azarenka’s defeat by Dayana Yastremska.
Qinwen was going for broke in her last 16 clash with Dodin which saw her land just 44% of her first serves with the Chinese star willing to take the risks on her opening delivery.
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