She has a long way to go to match the feats of her idol Li Na, but China’s newest superstar Shuai Zhang is certainly making a strong case as the most compelling story of this year’s Australian Open.
As we wrote last week, Zhang had never won a Grand Slam match in 14 previous attempts heading into this event and had contemplated giving up the sport entirely before deciding to give it one last try.
That decision proved to be a good one as she finally broke her Grand Slam duck in stunning fashion – upsetting world number two Simona Halep in the opening round.
She wasn’t done there, however. Two days later, on her 27th birthday, Zhang won again with a straight sets win against Alizé Cornet – the same woman who had eliminated her in the first round of the 2015 Australian open 12 months earlier.
And just to prove those first two wins were no flukes, the Chinese starlet produced her most dominant performance yet in the third round with a 6-1, 6-3 thrashing of American Varvara Lepchenko.
From the verge of retirement, Zhang suddenly finds herself in the last 16 of a Grand Slam event where she will face off against another American, Madison Keys, today in a fascinating clash that will see the winner progress to the quarter-finals.
Zhang has just one WTA title to her name – a victory on home soil at the 2013 Guangzhou International Women’s Open. That win saw her pocket US$43,000, but she is already guaranteed at least US$140,000 at this Australian Open.
More importantly in the post-Li Na era, she has provided Chinese tennis with someone to cheer for once again.
