BEIJING (AFP) – Zhang Shuai said she “felt like Rafa Nadal” after the home player ranked 595th powered into the last 16 to extend her historic China Open run yesterday.
The 35-year-old wildcard had not won a singles match in more than 600 days when she arrived at the prestigious WTA 1000 event in Beijing last week.
Her run of 24 straight defeats was the longest such barren spell on tour since Madeleine Pegel lost her first 29 matches in 1968-1972.
Zhang, a two-time Grand Slam singles quarter-finalist who has been plagued by injuries, has now won three matches in a row after a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Belgium’s Greet Minnen.
Zhang, who faced Minnen as the lowest-ranked player to reach the China Open third round in the tournament’s history, faces Poland’s 23rd seed Magdalena Frech next.
“I had a long, long, long time not getting this feeling,” said the former top-25 player Zhang, who has won two Grand Slam doubles titles.
“When I play my best I can win a lot of matches, I know that.
“I just want to keep it simple, keep going and keep winning.”
Zhang snapped her losing run on Wednesday when she beat 65th-ranked American McCartney Kessler 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/1).
She then stunned US Open semi-finalist Emma Navarro 6-4, 6-2 to reach round three and a meeting with 94th-ranked Minnen.
Zhang was on course for a third win in a row when she took the first set and went up a break in the second, only to relinquish the advantage immediately when the 27-year-old Minnen broke back.
As the match ticked past the hour mark, Zhang emerged from a gripping seventh game to break once more for 4-3, then held for 5-3 to put the next round within reach.
Zhang hails from Tianjin, near to Beijing, and said she felt very much at home on the hard courts of the Chinese capital.
So at home in fact that she compared herself jokingly to the Spanish great Nadal on his favourite surface of the French Open.
“When I am on the court I feel so like Rafa Nadal on Court Philippe-Chatrier,” she laughed.
