Maybe it was a sign after all that Zheng Qinwen finally met her idol Li Na at this Australian Open.
On Jan 24, the Chinese player nicknamed "Queen Wen" by her fans shook off a sluggish start to outclass Russia's Anna Kalinskaya 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-1 and reach the Melbourne Park semi-finals for the first time.
The 12th seed whose previous best performance in a Grand Slam was the quarter-finals at last season's US Open - will next take on Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska for a place in the final on Jan 27.
Significantly, Zheng became the first Chinese to make it to the Australian Open semi-finals in a decade.
The last player who did it? It was Li, who went on to win the 2014 edition for her second Grand Slam title, following her 2011 French Open win.
The stars are probably aligned and it helped that Kalinskaya appeared nervous in her first Grand Slam quarter-final.
She gifted the opening break of the match with a double fault but Zheng returned the favour imme-
diately and the duo were locked until the tiebreak after more shaky displays on serve.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der January 25, 2024-Ausgabe von The Straits Times.
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