Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open.
The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula.
Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which began in 1968.
Photo: AFP
In a dramatic change of fortune, the former top-25 player who has been plagued by injury, has now won four matches in seven days without dropping a set.
Speaking after a dominant 6-4, 6-2 victory over Magdalena Frech in the round-of-16, Zhang laid bare the pain she endured as she suffered loss after loss.
“Coming to Beijing I had a lot of pressure and was nervous because I had lost 24 matches,” said Zhang, who has reached two Grand Slam singles quarter-finals, in 2016 at Australia and Wimbledon in 2019.
“I had no idea how to win and I didn’t want to lose another, especially with all the Chinese fans,” she said. “When I think about this, I’m really sad. Walking back to the locker room, I didn’t know if I should continue or not before this tournament.”
Zhang was encouraged to carry on playing singles because she was still winning matches in doubles, in which she is a two-time major champion.
She reached the women’s doubles final at the US Open last month with France’s Kristina Mladenovic.
Zhang felt she had a chance to snap her losing streak in Beijing because she feels completely at home on the hard courts, where she has played many times down the years.
Zhang is popular among other players in the locker room and said that their support, along with that of her coaching team, pulled her back from the brink of quitting.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka this week said that it was emotional to see Zhang win again.
“Sometimes I lost the faith because the good result never came, but my coach said he trusted me. He said: ‘For sure one day, if you win one, you can continue to win a lot of matches,’” Zhang said. “It helped me a lot, a lot. If someone had told me to retire, maybe I’m done.”
In the women’s doubles, seventh seeds Chan Hao-ching of Taiwan and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia advanced to the quarter-finals when their opponents Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic and Badosa pulled out.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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