Zheng Qinwen becomes second Chinese tennis player ever to reach a Grand Slam final

Zheng Qinwen has added her name to history, becoming just the second Chinese tennis player ever to reach a Grand Slam final.

The 21-year-old joined Li Na on the very exclusive list after defeating Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the final of the Australian Open on Thursday night.

“It feels unbelievable,” Zheng told Alicia Molik in her on-court interview after the one-hour, 42-minute semifinal victory.

“I mean, I’m super excited to have such a great performance today and arrive in the final. I think my opponent is playing unbelievable tennis and had really good baseline strokes.

“It’s tough to explain my feelings now.”

Li reached four Grand Slam finals in her trailblazing career, winning two titles at Roland Garros in 2011 and the Australian Open in 2014. She also finished runner-up at two Australian Opens, in 2011 (to Kim Clijsters) and 2013 (to Victoria Azarenka).

Zheng had already joined Li on another very exclusive list the day before, after her quarterfinal win—by reaching the semifinals in Melbourne she guaranteed she would break into the Top 10 for the first time after this tournament. Li is the only other Chinese player ever to reach the Top 10 on the ATP or WTA rankings.

In what was the first meeting between Zheng and Yastremska, it looked like it may be Yastremska’s day early on, as she broke for a 2-0 lead and had a point to hold for 3-0. But Zheng snatched the break right back and stayed on serve until the seventh game, when she broke one more time en route to pocketing the first set.

The two traded breaks again early in the second set, but then—once again in the seventh game—Zheng got the critical break, and eventually served out the victory on her first attempt.

Zheng had five fewer winners and five fewer unforced errors in the match than Yastremska, but the critical number may have been break points—Zheng was 4/11, Yastremska was 2/10.

Standing between the No. 15-ranked Zheng and her first Grand Slam title will be No. 2-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who bested No. 4-ranked Coco Gauff in the first semifinal, 7-6 (2), 6-4.

Sabalenka beat Zheng in the pair’s only previous meeting, 6-1, 6-4, in the quarterfinals of the US Open last year.