Qinwen Zheng reaches semifinals at the 2024 Australian Open, becomes first Chinese woman to reach SF major since 2014

Qinwen Zheng next faces Ukraine's Dayana Yatremska.

Qinwen Zheng reaches semifinals at the 2024 Australian Open, becomes first Chinese woman to reach SF major since 2014

Qinwen Zheng celebrates her maiden Grand Slam semifinal qualification (Image via Imago)

Chinese tennis ace Qinwen Zheng made history on Wednesday as she reached the semifinals at the 2024 Australian Open. The 21-year-old beat Anna Kalinskaya in three sets to make it to her maiden Grand Slam semifinal. With this, Zheng became the first Chinese woman to advance to a major semifinal since 2014. 

The 21-year-old followed her idol Li Na‘s footsteps in reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open. It is worth mentioning that the former Chinese ace won the title back in 2014. Zheng will be hoping to repeat the feat, but she has two more hurdles to cross before she lays hands on her maiden Grand Slam title. 

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The 21-year-old Chinese exhibited great temperament to come back from a set down to win the match in two hours and 20 minutes. Zheng beat Kalinskaya 6-7, 6-3, 6-1 at the Rod Laver Arena. She was excited to make it to her maiden Grand Slam semifinal.

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I’m just so happy and really excited, this is my first time and I’m really happy to be in the semifinals
Qinwen Zheng said after the win in quarterfinals. (via Australian Open)

Qinwen Zheng makes it possible for herself

Apart from securing her maiden Grand Slam semifinal berth, Qinwen Zheng also fulfilled her ambition of breaking into the top 10 in the WTA rankings. While the 21-year-old Chinese is ranked 15th in the world and achieved a career-high ranking of 13, Zheng is set to enter the top 10 after her semifinal qualification in Melbourne.

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Qinwen Zheng celebrates (Image via Imago)

As she was informed about this, Zheng expressed delight and remembered how she pledged to achieve this feat when she was in Melbourne last year. 

That’s good news and another motivation. Last year at the Australian Open, I said I wanted to be in the top 10, and one year later I’m here.”
Qinwen Zheng said.

Qinwen Zheng will next face Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska who will also be making her maiden Grand Slam final appearance. The last time a Grand Slam semifinal pitted two first-time semifinalists against each other was at Wimbledon 2022, when Ons Jabeur defeated Tatjana Maria 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. The last time this occurred at the Australian Open was in 1996, when Anke Huber defeated Amanda Coetzer 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Meanwhile, the last time the Australian Open featured two first-time major semifinalists was in 2004 when Patty Schnyder and Fabiola Zuluaga both made the final four (losing to Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters respectively).

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