China’s tennis women are starting to get results to match their potential and are ready to follow in the footsteps of former great Li Na, rising star Wang Qiang said.
Wang has been in hot form, winning her first WTA Tour 250 title in July at the Jiangxi Open in Nanchang, China.
She won her second at the Guangzhou Open last week and yesterday became the first home-grown player to reach the semi-finals of the Wuhan Open after breezing past Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-3, 6-1, extending her win-loss streak on Chinese soil this year to 14-1.
Photo: EPA
“I’m really happy to be competing in China, getting a lot of support from fans,” she said on Wednesday after beating Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 7-5, 6-2 to reach the last eight.
The 26-year-old’s run of success also included winning an Asian Games gold medal in Indonesia last month, and this week, she upset world No. 7 Karolina Pliskova in the second round.
Wang, who recently became China’s No. 1 player, promised that there was more to come from her nation’s women, who bear the burden of following Li, Asia’s first Grand Slam winner and a trailblazer for tennis in China.
“After the emergence of Li Na, I think we are on the rise,” the world No. 34 said. “You see young players. At a tournament [of this level] ... you see great performances. I think in the near future, in international tournaments, we’ll see more Chinese players.”
Li, who triumphed at Roland Garros in 2011 and won the Australian Open in 2014 before retiring later that year, is one of Wang’s idols.
“She is a goal. She’s a role model for many athletes, especially Chinese players,” said Wang, who trained in Wuhan when she was a child and planned to become a teacher if a career in tennis did not work out. “If I can play as well as she did, I will have a very perfect life.”
Several promising talents have emerged in China, but none have come even close to matching the success of Li.
However, Wang, who grabbed headlines at the French Open this year with her straight-sets demolition of Venus Williams, said she is growing in confidence after a successful year, and playing in front of home crowds has helped boost her game.
“In terms of technique, in the past year I think I’ve been doing quite similar [things], but I’m really more confident,” said Wang, whose family paid for her to train in Japan during her formative years, instead of sticking with China’s state-run sports system. “I believe in myself; that’s the most important element.”
Wang is next to face the winner of yesterday evening’s match between Estonian Anett Kontaveit and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
Also yesterday, Australian Ashleigh Barty defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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