Ten years after watching Li Na win the Australian Open title, Zheng Qinwen has a first grand slam crown in her sights.
The 21-year-old is the first Chinese player since trailblazer Li here in 2014 to make a grand slam final, where she will take on defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.
Zheng vividly remembers cheering on Li during her victory over Dominika Cibulkova as an 11-year-old alongside her tennis team-mates.
Three years earlier, Li had become the first Chinese grand slam singles champion at the French Open, and Zheng said: “She means a lot, I think, for all the Chinese kids the same age like me.
“Because I think she’s the first one who won the slams. That’s unbelievable for Asian woman in that moment. She gives a lot of hope, in that moment, to young kids like me.”
Zheng had the chance to meet Li, who is playing in the legends event, earlier this fortnight, with the 41-year-old telling her young countrywoman not to think too much.
Zheng, who will break into the top 10 on Monday, kept her nerve to come through a chaotic top half of the draw, with Sabalenka the first top-50 opponent she will face, and she said: “My dream is not just the final. I’m almost there but I know this little distance is still far away.”
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Extra motivation for the 21-year-old came last September when coach Wim Fissette ended their brief partnership to return to work with Naomi Osaka.
Zheng made her feelings known but linked back up with Spaniard Pere Riba, who first began coaching her as a 17-year-old.
He cannot speak highly enough of Zheng, saying: “I never see in my life a player with the work ethic that she has.
“The first week that we started to work, a long time ago, I say, ‘OK, 7am, and then we go to practise’. Then we practise a lot of hours. I say, next day the same, next day the same. I was thinking that after four or five days she’s going to say, ‘I’m tired’.
“Sometimes we are getting angry because she wants to do more and I have to stop her. You can imagine the dreams that Qinwen has, that she really wants to be there in the top, and I’m really, really happy for her because she deserves it.
“Still she is so young. She’s improving every single month and still has a lot of margin to improve. She arrived with very good feelings. She arrived really motivated. And, if she plays her game, she will have her chances.
“But, of course, all of us, we know Aryna and we know it’s going to be a really complicated match.”
The run is another feather in the cap of 35-year-old Riba, who during his break from working with Zheng was part of Coco Gauff’s coaching team for her US Open triumph last summer.
“I think that all experiences is helpful to you,” he said. “Me, I’m a humble guy and I’m trying to learn from everyone. The US Open was really an amazing moment. Of course this experience is helping here.”
Sabalenka was the player beaten by Gauff in New York but the Belarusian has put together an impressive sequence of slam results, reaching at least the semi-finals of six straight tournaments and now bidding for a second successive title here.
She turned the tables on Gauff in the last four and is yet to drop a set.
Known as a very emotional player, Sabalenka has maintained an impressively even keel so far, and she said: “I think I’m pretty calm inside like I am outside.
“I’m defending champion but, worst case, I’m going to lose this tournament and it’s less points to defend next year. That’s helping me to just stay focused and just try your best in each match without thinking about defending something.”
One bizarre superstition Sabalenka has maintained through the tournament is drawing her signature and other doodles on fitness coach Jason Stacy’s bald head.
“Our first day here, there was some kid wanted a ball signed,” Stacy said. “She’s, ‘Ah, no problem’. So she signed my head as a joke.
“Then every day it’s like a routine to sign my head. Non-match day, she just draws some random picture. They played tic-tac-toe on my head the other day. She won, by the way, so it’s good.
“Then on match day she just signs it and does random stuff. Just part of the process.”
Djokovic bemoans 'completely off' performance after early Italian Open exit
Novak Djokovic lamented his dismal showing as Alejandro Tabilo profited from the world number one's "completely off" performance to triumph at the Italian Open.
Tabilo stunned Djokovic with a straight-sets victory in the third round on Sunday, winning 6-2, 6-3 in his maiden ATP Tour clash with the Serbian.
The Chilean advances to the fourth round at a Masters 1000 event for just the second time after Indian Wells in 2023, with Djokovic unable to explain his struggles in Rome.
"I just wasn't able to find any kind of good feelings on the court, to be honest, striking the ball. I was completely off," he said.
A six-time champion in Rome, the 36-year-old won his opening-round match at the ATP Masters 1000 event against Corentin Moutet.
However, Djokovic was inadvertently hit on the head by a falling water bottle when leaving the court after that victory.
Whether that incident impacted his performance against Tabilo remains to be seen.
"I don't know, to be honest. I have to check that," he said. "Training was different. I was going for [a] kind of easy training yesterday.
"I didn't feel anything, but I also didn't feel the same. Today under high stress, it was quite bad – not in terms of pain, but in terms of this balance.
"Just no coordination. Completely different player from what it was two nights ago. Could be. I don't know. I have to do medical checkups and see what's going on."
Tabilo's next opponent will be Karen Khachanov, who saw off Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 6-4, while Djokovic is made to wait for his 1100th match win.
Djokovic stunned in straight-sets defeat at Italian Open
Novak Djokovic is out of the Italian Open after a straight-sets defeat by Alejandro Tabilo in the third round on Sunday.
Tabilo recorded the biggest win of his career with a dominant performance, winning 6-2, 6-3 in his maiden ATP Tour clash with the Serbian.
Djokovic, who was hit on the head by a water bottle following his second-round win over Corentin Moutet, struggled to get going as he saw his serve broken four times.
Tabilo clinched the opening set in style, making few errors, and Djokovic failed to mount a comeback in the second, with double faults costing him at key moments, including one on the final break serve.
The Chilean advances to the fourth round at a Masters 1000 event for just the second time after Indian Wells in 2023. His next opponent will be Karen Khachanov, who saw off Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 6-4.
Data Debrief: Big winner
Tabilo is the second player from Chile to defeat the World No.1 in ATP-1000 events after Fernando Gonzalez, who defeated Lleyton Hewitt at the Hamburg Masters in 2003, since the introduction of the format in 1990.
He is also the first Chilean to defeat a World No. 1 since Fernando Gonzalez beat Roger Federer at the 2007 Nitto ATP Finals Round Robin.
Djokovic, meanwhile, is made to wait for his 1100th match win.
Sabalenka dominates Yastremska to reach Italian Open fourth round
Aryna Sabalenka dominated Dayana Yastremska to reach the fourth round of the Italian Open on Sunday.
Sabalenka, who claimed Australian Open glory for the second time earlier this year without dropping a set, eased to a 6-4 6-2 victory over Yastremska.
Yastremska headed into the third-round contest having beaten Sabalenka in all three of their previous meetings, but the world number two found a crucial break of serve in the seventh game of the opening set before going on to hold twice more to take the ascendancy.
Yastremska's resolve was broken further in an epic third game of the second set, surviving six break points before Sabalenka finally got over the line to tighten her grip on the match.
Sabalenka didn't look back from there, breaking Yastremska again before going on to seal her place in the fourth round.
Sabalenka will take on either Sara Errani or Anna Kalinskaya in the fourth round as she looks to win the Italian Open for the first time ahead of the French Open later this month, where she will bid to improve on her semi-final appearance last year.
Data debrief
Since 2018, when Sabalenka achieved her first WTA 1000 win, she is now the player with the joint-most wins in such events (90, equalling Iga Swiatek).
Sabalenka may have lost her three previous games against Yastremska, but the last meeting between the pair was in 2020, and the two-time grand slam champion showed how much her game has progressed since then as she won all nine of her service games while breaking her Ukrainian opponent three times on her way to victory.
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