The 25-year-old wept in the middle of Margaret Court Arena as the crowd erupted in applause, after she completed a stunning straight sets win (6-4 6-3) over last year’s US Open semifinalist.
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World No. 2 Simona Halep said on Sunday she is determined to taste Grand Slam glory but is keeping her expectations in check after an injury-marred build-up to the Australian Open.
But then she landed in Melbourne and came up with a performance she described as “the best moment of my career”.
Halep finally got a break in the fifth game and looked to be clawing herself back into the match at 2-4, but Zhang kept her nose in front to take the first set.
Nearly as an afterthought, the rising 24-year-old Romanian who was a finalist at the 2014 French Open added that her biggest goal was “to win a Grand Slam”.
“I feel good. I feel confident”.
The pair’s only other meeting on tour came in 2012, when Halep won 6-1 6-1 in a tick over an hour. I like that I was very composed today, from first point to the last point.
“Thank you to everyone for supporting me”, an nearly speechless Zhang said in her on-court interview.
“I might be rusty, make a few more unforced errors than I would like but I’m ready to go”, Sharapova said.
A former world No 30, her ranking had plummeted to its worst in five years after a string of early exits at second-tier ITF tournaments.
“I wanted to grow fruit, vegetables, grow flowers”, the slightly built Zhang said in Mandarin after her match”.
“Yesterday I saw her… she’s always helping the young players. You have to keep going.'” – Zhang reveals that past struggles made her consider retirement.
Shortly after a dejected Nadal walked off court having tasted his first opening round loss at the Australian Open, women’s second seed Halep bid farewell while another high-profile casualty was seven-times major champion Venus Williams. “So that’s what I’m very happy about today”.
Likewise, 14th seed Victoria Azarenka reminded people why she has been crowned Australian Open champion twice, wiping Belgian challenger Alison Van Uytvanck 6-0, 6-0 in a 53-minute whitewash. If Australian Open not good, maybe finish tennis.
Rising star Garbine Muguruza beat Estonian debutante Anett Kontaveit 6-0, 6-4 in one hour.
Key stat: Williams’ serve, which has become vulnerable late in her career, was broken five times as she won just 52 percent of points on her first serve delivery.
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Pliskova could face Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova, to whom she lost in the third round last year, in the same stage this year; both defeated Australian wildcards Kimberly Birrell and Maddison Inglis in their respective openers in straight sets. “You can only lose the set, ‘” she said.
