Homegrown hero Zheng Qinwen pulled out some of her best tennis to beat Ukraine's Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) at the China Open on Friday and stormed into a semifinal against Belgium's Elise Mertens.
Zheng, a wildcard entry in Beijing, finally notched her first straight-sets win of this year's tournament, having needed more than 10 hours on court to get to the quarterfinals.
The world number 54 sent the crowd roaring as she punched winners down the line, though the seventh-ranked Svitolina came back fighting to force a second-set tiebreak.
Zheng double-faulted on the first point but crawled her way out from a 0-2 deficit and fell onto her back victorious after winning her second match point.
"Truthfully, because I really wanted to grab this win, I was really nervous," the 24-year-old told the crowd.
"I played really aggressive in important moments," she said, adding that her opponent "raised her level" in a tight second set.
Svitolina made just 13 unforced errors over the one-hour-and-47-minute match, but was outgunned by 48 winners from the 2024 Olympic champion.
MERTENS UPSETS SWIATEK
Mertens, the world number 19, beat Poland's Iga Swiatek 7-6 (7/0), 6-3, overcoming some nerves to dump out the 2023 title winner.
"I tried to be consistent. She's a great player, so I had to really push myself," said Mertens, who had lost both of her two previous matches against eighth-seeded Swiatek.
"It was really nerve-wracking at the end but I kept myself calm... I just can't believe it."
The 30-year-old was the evening's better technician, making just 11 unforced errors to Swiatek's 34 across the one-hour-and-50-minute affair.
Mertens had surged into her singles quarterfinal after beating third-seeded Coco Gauff, also in straight sets.