Qinwen Zheng overcame a nervy start to come through in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 against qualifier Dayana Yastremska and became the first Chinese player since Li Na in 2014 to reach Australian Open Final.
Yastremska, who reached a career high ranking of 21 four years ago, came out of the blocks fast and broke serve early for a 2-0 lead with her powerful baseline game, while Zheng’s first serve went missing. However, having never played against each other and with both players into their first Grand Slam semi-final, the tension was there for all to see and the Ukrainian inexplicably threw in four double faults in the next game and was broken straight back.
The right-handed 23-year-old became the first qualifier to reach a Grand Slam semi-final since Emma Raducanu in 2021, largely due to her clean ball striking and her mobility around the court. But she became increasingly erratic as the set progressed while Zheng remained in control and fended off further breakpoints.
Although she had not beaten anyone inside the top 50 to reach this stage, she broke serve to lead 4-3 after converting her fourth breakpoint. Aided by winning 75% of her first serves and eight winners, she closed out the set 6-4 after 55 minutes on her first set point.
The pair traded breaks at the start of the second set before DY edged ahead 3-2 with some heavy hitting drawing unforced errors from Zheng. However, back-to-back aces in the next game locked the players in at three games all.
A poor game followed by Yastremska to hand the initiative back to Zheng who broke serve in the seventh game just as in the opening set. She sat down at the changeover 4-3 ahead and now just two games away from her first Slam Final.
Zheng only conceded five more points and closed out the match with a service winner before realising the magnitude of her achievement. She spoke briefly on court and also thanked her fans in Mandarin. When asked about her victory and the influence of her team, she replied:
“It feels unbelievable! I’m super excited to have such a great performance today and arrive in the final. I think Dayana played unbelievable tennis. It’s hard to explain my feelings now. Thanks for all the support and to all my team as well. Of course, we have been working hard, lots of effort on the tennis court and also outside with the fitness and the treatment. It’s the basic stuff but little details help every day. Thanks again to my team – I can’t do it without you guys.”
Yastremska has had a super tournament coming through qualifying and also beating Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova as well as former Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka. She also leaves with a cheque of almost a million Australian dollars.
Chinese superstar Li Na famously won the Australian Open ten years ago and Zheng will now aim to follow in her footsteps. But she will start Saturday’s final as the underdog against defending champion Aryna Sabalenka who overcame American Coco Gauff in straight sets in the earlier semi-final. Zheng lost their only encounter last year in the US Open quarter finals.
