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Jie Zheng has become the first Chinese woman to make an Australian Open singles semi-final, ending Maria Kirilenko’s dream run in Melbourne with a 6-1 6-3 win on Tuesday. The result equaled Zheng’s best-ever Grand Slam performance, having made the same stage at Wimbledon in 2008.
In her win over Alona Bondarenko in the fourth round, Zheng was plagued by errors and was able to progress in part thanks to the even greater struggles of her Ukrainian opponent. On Tuesday though, she struck the ball cleanly throughout, the contest beginning at a much higher standard than that match. Kirilenko came out swinging, but Zheng’s admirable fighting qualities allowed her to force errors from the Russian and create a break in the fourth game. Another forehand error from Kirilenko gave Zheng a double break, and she rode a wave of confidence to take the first set comprehensively.
It was easy to forget that Zheng is in fact currently ranked 23 places higher than Kirilenko, such has been the hype that has surrounded the glamorous Russian in Melbourne over the last week. These things will happen when one combines model looks with stirring tennis, as Kirilenko had done in eliminating 2008 women’s singles champion Maria Sharapova in the opening round.
Already sporting a heavily strapped left thigh, the Russian called a medical timeout after dropping the first set, leaving the court to receive treatment for a right hip problem. She received assistance from a trainer at each change of ends during the second set, but did not appear overly affected in her movement. To suggest otherwise would be to discredit Zheng, who began to match the more renowned hitter shot for shot and broke in the opening game.
Kirilenko had a chance as golden as her outfit to get back into the match, but blew four break points in the sixth game of the second set to allow Zheng to remain comfortably ahead. The Russian’s serve also lifted, and it seemed that at any moment she could draw level. But the ninth game saw Zheng earn three match points, and Kirilenko gifted her the second of these with her third double fault of the set.
The Russian leaves the tournament with a career-best major result, and looks a certainty to climb the rankings in the future to match it with the top players. For Zheng, a final-four match-up against Justine Henin looms as a tough but winnable battle, given that her run this far has seen her defeat the 24th, 11th and 31st seeds as well as an in-form Kirilenko. There’s now a chance that China could have two women in the semi-finals, as 16th seed Na Li takes on Venus Williams for a spot in the last four tomorrow. As it stands, world No.35 Zheng seems likely to improve her career-best ranking of 15, which she achieved in May 2009.
Zheng holds fond memories of Rod Laver Arena, having won the doubles title in 2006, the first of two Grand Slam doubles wins.
“I feel the court is lucky for me. I hope it can continue,” she said after the convincing victory, which means she will meet Henin for the first time in almost five years. The Belgian won their one and only encounter back then in straight sets, but will be wary of a confident Zheng, who cannot be discounted given the players she has defeated here already.
Fast facts
- Zheng made just nine unforced errors, while her opponent had 22.
- Kirilenko hit 18 winners to Zheng’s 16.
- Zheng converted four of six break point chances, while Kirilenko squandered all five of her opportunities.
- Zheng won all eight points when she came to the net.
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