Chinese players WTA tour dream on track in face of coronavirus scare

Chinese players WTA tour dream on track in face of coronavirus scare

Chinese tennis players fight off adverse off court conditions to keep WTA dream on track

 

The outbreak of the coronavirus has hit many worldwide sporting events and athletes alike. Chinese sports has taken a big beating with some major sports events having been cancelled or postponed, while, some countries have put restrictions on the Chinese travel plans.

In that sense World No.37 Zheng Saisai is lucky that she is able to compete on the WTA Tour while back home the Xi'an Open has been called off and the Chinese Davis Cup team had to withdraw.

Asked whether she feels that the Chinese athletes have taken the biggest hit of the worldwide scare Zheng said: “I don't know, I think it's just trying to protect athletes, you know, not to affect so much. I really, I don't know, but I just feel, you know, many athlete was working pretty hard and right now with the situation is they can only stay home. So just hope that everything's going to go well very soon and people start to working normal,”

The 26-year-old, a surprise quarter-finalist at the Qatar Total Open, said the Chinese are very ‘pretty strong’ and that ‘people are working pretty hard and try(ing) to find a solution’.

 “It's a pretty sad what's going on right now and it's not looking great, but I mean our Chinese are pretty strong, we always stick together, always going to be together in all these tough moments, just have to be patient,” said Zheng in  response to a question.

Asked if the travel restriction on Chinese nationals has affected her travel plans she said: “I was in Dubai last week, so was fine. Yeah, you know, you see every day some news, it's pretty sad, you know, this start to growing. And hopefully -- I think people are working pretty hard and try to find a solution.”

“It didn't really (affect) me, because I was always traveling for the tournaments, so it didn't bother me so much,” she added.

Zheng’s extended run of three matches at the WTA Tour event was brought to an end by ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday. The Belarusian won 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 to advance to the semi-final of the Premier 5 event.

On Wednesday night, the Chinese No.2 had pocketed a thrilling 3-6, 6-3, and 6-4 comeback win over World No.6 Kiki Bertens of The Netherlands.

The good run in Qatar means that Zheng has reached the quarter-finals of the WTA event for the first time in four years.

It was also her 6th career win over world's top-10 players following her victories over Karolina Pliskova (2016), Angelique Kerber (2016), Agnieszka Radwanska (2016), Elina Svitolina (2017) and Sabalenka (2019).

Zheng is now breathing down her compatriot Wang Qiang's neck as her latest heroics in Doha is expected to see her overtake Zhang Shuai to become the second highest-ranked tennis player in China, who has so far won three career singles title.

Kuznetsova eyes another tilt at the top

Kuznetsova eyes another tilt at the top

Two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova – a surprise semi-finalist at this year’s Qatar Total Open is seemingly ready for another tilt at a top-10 position, after a series of highs and lows over the past four years.

The Russian dropped to World No. 107 at the end of 2018 and further slipped to 198 last year after missing the Citi Open in Washington, courtesy of a delayed visa.

But a steady run since then has helped her crack the top-50 which she aims to improve further as the season progresses.

Kuznetsova, winner of the 2009 French Open and the 2004 US Open has not given up on adding another Grand Slam titles to her collection.

“Of course, why not?, the 34-year Russian said in response to a question as to whether she is aiming to win another Grand Slam title.

“They always told me I'm black horse, so I can still be black horse. I always been, when I won French, when I with won US Open, why not?, you never know” she added.

She said the level of the women tennis has gone up and she too has raised the bar.

“The level is tremendously high, I know I am capable of beating top 10 players, but I need to get better. I see things to improve, I already improved a lot from my past years. The level of the game raised a lot and it made me improve my game, because with the level I used to play, with the game strategy I couldn't be winning many matches now. Still, I need to get some things up, “

The World No. 46 Kuznetsova has appeared in four Grand Slam singles finals, winning two, and she has also appeared in seven doubles finals, winning twice. As a doubles player, Kuznetsova has reached the finals of each Grand Slam event at least once, winning the Australian Open twice.               

She said that the competition is very close in the tournaments then it was five or six years back.

“ I always said this, that now it's the level is raised a lot and it's very hard. Like sometimes I say it's no players who really kind of maintain their level, like no first round losses, there is not many players like that. But it's because that tennis is very high level for me right now and it's very competitive sport, we're getting better and better, so that's great for the game.

Born to an athletic family, Kuznetsova moved at the age of seven to Spain to attend the Sanchez-Casal Academy. In 2001, she first took part in a WTA tournament, the Madrid Open, and a year later won her first WTA title at the Nordea Nordic Light Open in Helsinki, Finland. Her first appearance in a Grand Slam tournament was at the 2002 Australian Open and her first Grand Slam title came at the 2004 US Open over countrywoman Elena Dementieva, making her the third Russian woman to win a Grand Slam title, after Anastasia Myskina and Maria Sharapova.