No.5 seed Zheng Qinwen continued her triumphant homecoming with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Nadia Podoroska in the China Open third round.
Beijing: Scores | Order of Play | Draws
Roared on once again by a packed Diamond Court, Olympic old medallist Zheng saved five break points against her in the third game of the match. Once she'd passed that test, the Chinese No.1 rolled, delivering a dominant performance on serve in particular.
"When I enter on court, I understand sometimes my form is not that good, forehand or backhand is not that good," Zheng said afterwards. "But I think the trick is to find a way to resolve this. Of course, this is in my mind. I will try hard not to be distracted by any factors. In the past I lost because I was affected by these factors. But now when I'm on court, I'm focused on how to resolve these issues, focused on each point. I can actually execute that."
She will next face No.34 seed Amanda Anisimova in a rematch of their US Open first-round tilt a month ago, which Zheng took 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 en route to the quarterfinals. Anisimova maintained her perfect record against No.9 seed Daria Kasatkina with a 7-6(1), 6-4 victory, improving to 5-0 overall (and 10-0 in sets). However, this was the first occasion on which Kasatkina -- who served for the first set at 5-4 -- took Anisimova as far as a tiebreak.
Here are the key numbers from Zheng's win over Podoroska:
5: The opening stages of the match saw a positive start from Podoroska, while Zheng dug herself a hole with a pair of double faults in the third game. But she saved all five of the break points she faced in that game with strong play -- two unreturned serves and three clean winners, including a smartly disguised drop shot. They were the only break points Zheng would face in the entire match.
18: From 5-3, 15-15 in the first set to 5-2, 40-0 in the second, Zheng put together a remarkable 18-point winning streak behind her serve that underlined how dominant the stroke can be. It was only snapped when a Podoroska return clipped the top of the tape, foiling Zheng's serve-and-volley attempt on her first match point. In total, Zheng only dropped three points behind her first serve.
57%: If Zheng showed any vulnerability, it was in her first serve percentage. It was a mere 57% in the first set, and she also only won 57% of her second-serve points in the opener as well -- numbers that contributed to her early struggles. Both improved in the second set, though, where Zheng landed 67% of her first serves and did not drop a point behind her second.
27: As the match progressed, Zheng reeled off a series of crowd-pleasing winners -- not just with her powerful groundstrokes but judiciously played drop shots as well. She tallied 27 winners to 27 unforced errors, while Podoroska could only muster four winners in total.
