Jie Zhengis China’s pride for becoming the first Chinese player to make it to an Australian Open singles semi-final. Zheng’s best-ever Grand Slam performance, ending Maria Kirilenko’s dream run in Melbourne with a 6-1, 6-3 win, equaled the same stage at Wimbledon 2008.
Another Chinese player who made it to quarterfinals is Li Na who will play seven-time Grand Slam singles winner Venus Williams on Wednesday.
At Wimbledon in 2006, Li happened to be the first Chinese player to ever reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal. Zheng improved that record two years later in southwest London.
No Chinese player has ever broken into the top 10 or won a major singles title. But both Li and Zheng have made it into the top 15 — the first time China had two players in the top 20. Zheng now stands at No. 35.
According to Zheng it is not out of the question to expect Chinese player to go further in the Australian Open.
In her triumph over Alona Bondarenko, Zheng was inundated by errors but was still able to progress later on. In her clash against Kirilenko, Tuesday, she struck the ball cleanly throughout the match. Kirilenko came out swinging but Zheng’s commendable fighting performance allowed her to force errors from the Russian and create a break in the fourth game.
There is now a chance that China could have two women in the semi-finals, as 16th seed Na Li takes on Venus Williams for a spot in the last four on Wednesday. As it stands, world No.35 Zheng seems likely to improve her career-best ranking of 15, which she achieved in May 2009.
