{"id":362570,"date":"2024-01-25T12:15:39","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T13:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=362570"},"modified":"2024-01-25T14:02:08","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T14:02:08","slug":"freaky-coincidence-tops-off-perfect-night-for-young-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=362570","title":{"rendered":"Freaky coincidence tops off perfect night for young star"},"content":{"rendered":"

A decade to the day since her idol and fellow Chinese national Li Na\ufeff won the 2014 Australian Open<\/a> women's title, Qinwen Zheng has booked her place in the 2024 final.<\/p>\n

Zheng smashed her way to a straight sets victory over Ukraine's Dayana Yastremska<\/a> 6-4, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena in Thursday night's semi final.<\/p>\n

It means the 21-year-old will now face world No.2 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

RECAP:<\/strong> Australian Open 2024 day 12<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Freakish' BBL star hailed for 'best catch I've ever seen'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ricciardo stuck in awkward 'worst ever' name change<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The pair both won through in straight sets<\/a>, setting up an exciting battle for the world No.12 and the reigning women's champion on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

"It feels unbelievable\ufeff," Zheng told Alicia Molik in her post match interview.<\/p>\n

\"Qinwen<\/p>\n

"I'm super excited to have (had) such a great performance today and arrive in the final.<\/p>\n

"It's tough to explain my feelings now … thanks for all the support and thanks to my team as well.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine,<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad-free on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

"We've been working hard, that's the basics. We've put a lot of effort on the tennis court and outside with the fitness stuff."<\/p>\n

Zheng lost in the US Open quarterfinals to Sabalenka last year in her best previous run at a major.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe scintillating victory comes just days after Zheng struggled to contain her sheer delight after her fourth round win<\/a> over Oceane Dodin, gushing over the support she has recieved from compatriot Li Na.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/AustralianOpen\/status\/1750500893403791841<\/a><\/p>\n

"She's really classic and I think powerful women. Honestly, I think she looks much more beautiful from when I saw her on the TV when I was young," she told Nine's Jelena Dokic after her win over Dodin.<\/p>\n

Later, in a press conference, she mentioned the influence Na had had on her.<\/p>\n

"It's really simple advice: don't think too much," Zheng explained.<\/p>\n

\"Qinwen<\/p>\n

"But sometimes when you enter on court, it's tough to do it.<\/p>\n

"I think at the end the simple things will really helps on the tennis court."<\/p>\n

Zheng will now face world No.2 Sabalenka in her first ever final, to be held at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A decade to the day since her idol and fellow Chinese national Li Na\ufeff won the 2014 Australian Open women's title, Qinwen Zheng has booked […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":362572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=362570"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":362575,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362570\/revisions\/362575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/362572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=362570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=362570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=362570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}