Shuai Zhang’s wild card fairytale continues to fourth round of China Open

Chinese wild card Shuai Zhang continues her fairytale run at the China Open, defeating Belgian Greet Minnen 6-2, 6-3 in a dominant display on the Diamond Court on Sunday.

Zhang came into the China Open on a 24-match singles losing streak, which ended after she narrowly defeated McCartney Kessler in the first round. Before that, Zhang hadn’t won a singles match in over 600 days.

Then Zhang shocked the world in the second round as she defeated No. 6 seed Emma Navarro, making history by becoming the lowest-ranked player, at No. 595, to reach the China Open third round. Zhang’s low ranking comes after a yearlong hiatus from the sport following a shoulder injury. Her highest singles ranking was No. 22 in January 2023.

“Even last week, I couldn’t win a match,” Shuai said in a post-match press conference. “Everybody wanted to play against me. Now, actually no one wants to play against me.”

Zhang and Minnen looked evenly matched at the beginning of the first set. In each of the first four games, both players gave up only one point when serving and delivered one ace apiece.

Zhang flipped this trend around in the fifth game, breaking Minnen’s serve and allowing the Belgian to win only one point. Zhang proceeded to win three more straight games, breaking Minnen’s serve again and hitting two more aces in the eighth game to take the first set 6-2 in only 26 minutes.

At the start of the second set, Zhang was handed an easy first game as Minnen double faulted twice. Although unable to hold her serve in the second game, Zhang continued to put the pressure on Minnen as the Belgian desperately responded to Zhang’s powerful shots with defensive lobs. Zhang smashed those lobs back, shouting triumphantly with the crowd roaring in the background after she broke Minnen’s serve a fourth time.

Although Minnen regained her composure to break Zhang’s serve and tie the set at 3-3, repeated unforced errors led to her downfall. Zhang emerged victorious at the end of the second set, breaking Minnen’s serve a total of six times throughout the match.

Reflecting on her performance, Zhang joked that she has a home-field advantage in Beijing. She likened her play on the hard courts of the China Open to Rafael Nadal’s dominance on clay at Roland Garros: “When I’m on this court, I have everything,” Zhang said.

Zhang’s incredible run continues as she advances to the fourth round against Polish player Magdalena Frech for their third meeting. If she wins, Zhang will reach the quarterfinals of the China Open for a third time after appearances in 2016 and 2018.

—Reporting by Jared Rubenstein