No.12 seed Zheng Qinwen raced into her second consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, and first at the Australian Open, with a 59-minute 6-0, 6-3 defeat of Oceane Dodin.
Zheng, 21, reached the last eight of a major for the first time at the US Open last year. She becomes the fourth Chinese player to make the quarterfinals in Melbourne following 2014 champion (and two-time runner-up) Li Na, 2010 semifinalist Zheng Jie and 2016 quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai.
She will next face No.75-ranked Anna Kalinskaya, who defeated No.26 seed Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 6-2, with a first Grand Slam semifinal place on the line for both. Zheng lost to Kalinskaya 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in their only previous meeting, in the first round of Guadalajara 2022.
Following Victoria Azarenka's loss to Dayana Yastremska earlier in the day, a new Grand Slam finalist is now guaranteed from the top half of the draw.
Head to Head
- Sorry, we couldn't find any players that match your search.
- Sorry, we couldn't find any players that match your search.
Keys to the match: In a contest between two big hitters, Zheng's superior serve and control proved decisive.
A backhand winner down the line to break Dodin in the second game set the tone. Overall, Zheng found 19 winners to the Frenchwoman's five and kept her unforced error count to 16 compared to Dodin's 19. Though Zheng landed only 44% of her first serves, she only lost three of those points -- enough to keep in control of most of her service games, bar a loose one midway through the second set.
By contrast, despite faster average speeds on both her first and second deliveries, No.95-ranked Dodin was unable to protect her serve from Zheng's aggressive tactics. Zheng repeatedly deployed a one-two punch on return, pummeling her first stroke deep and allowing her to put away the next forehand. Dodin won only 50% of her first-serve points and 33% behind her second serve.
After a third round match running nearly three hours, Qinwen Zheng wins her way through to the quarter finals in just 59 minutes!
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 22, 2024
She defeats Oceane Dodin 6-0 6-3 to set up a meeting with Anna Kalinskaya.#AusOpen • @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/uLXJKNJcOq
Zheng on the importance of stability: "I remember the first time [I] arrive on the tour, and everybody I play has better ranking than me. Especially when I face the Slam champions, you are going to enter the court and feel those pressure. Sometimes I get overexcited.
"But right now, got these two years' experience. Like you say, I start to face the people who are lower than me. I come on the court. I feel I have those confidence.
"Of course, you're excited always to compete, but you can manage the balance of excited how much you need. Right now I just feel more peace than before. I remember that before there was lot of up and downs, right? Now it's just more stable.
"It's really important to have the stability. If you got the stability, you have a better chance to win, of course. If you don't have the stability, it's like you toss a coin and we will see what's happen today.
"Now this result shows that I'm not like this. I have those stable in my tennis."
