China’s Zhu Lin came back from one set down to beat Mirra Andreeva 4-6 6-3 6-2 in 2 hours and 17 minutes reaching the quarter finals at the WTA 500 tournament in Ningbo. She achieved a back-to-back win following her win over 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu.
Andreeva broke serve in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead and held serve in the eighth game for 5-3. The Russian player closed out the first set 6-4 on her fourth set point after saving two break points in the 10thgame.
Andreeva converted her fifth break point in the first game of the second set and held serve in the second game to open up a 2-0 lead. Zhu Lin broke straight back in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Andreeva broke serve in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Zhu Lin won four consecutive games with two breaks of serve to close out the second set 6-3.
Zhu Lin broke twice in the first and fifth games of the third set to open up a 4-1 lead. Andreeva pulled one break back in the sixth game for 2-4, but Zhu Lin converted her second break point in the seventh game to open up a 5-2 lead. The Chinese player served out the win on her first match point.
Zhu Lin has achieved her first win over Andreeva in their second career head-to-head match. One month ago Andreeva beat her Chinese rival in straight sets.
Zhu has won her third career match over over a top 10 opponent and her first since beating Caroline Garcia in the quarter final in Cleveland in 2023.
Zhu, who entered this week ranked outside the top 200, has moved up to world number 170.
Zhu Lin recovered from an elbow injury that sidelined her for six months. She made her come-back at last January’s Australian Open, but she dropped out of the top 500 by the time of the Canadian Open last July in Montreal, where she upset Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round to reach the Round of 16.
Zhu Lin set up a quarter final match against Diana Schnaider, who came back from one set down to beat Karolina Muchova 2-6 6-1 6-2. Schnaider converted five of the eleven break points she earned in the final two sets and won 84% of her first serve points in the third set. Muchova broke twice in the fifth and seventh games to win the first set 6-2. Schnaider raced out to a 4-0 lead with two breaks of serve. Muchova pulled one break back in the fifth game for 1-4. Schnaider converted her third break point in the sixth game to wi the second set 6-1. Schnaider broke twice in the first and seventh games to take a 5-2 lead and sealed the win on her first match point in the eighth game.
