Olympic tennis champ Zheng Qinwen rebukes rowdy home crowd at China Open before win

BEIJING – Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen rebuked rowdy fans at her home tennis tournament on Oct 3, before opponent Anna Kalinskaya retired with injury to give the Chinese player a 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 3-0 victory.

A strong breeze and a noisy crowd made for tense rallies on a chilly centre court in Beijing, with the umpire stepping in to warn people to stop moving around in the stands during play.

During a tight first-set tie-break, Zheng – a beloved figure in her home country – twice was heard telling spectators to “stop shouting” as she stepped up to serve.

“I thought the first set in particular was really difficult,” she told the crowd in an on-court interview after the 2hr 22min match.

“Indeed, seeing some movement in the audience, my emotions were not very stable,” the 23-year-old added.

But she declared: “It’s my problem, it’s my problem”, and vowed to adjust.

Chants for Zheng rang through the wind-rattled stadium before most points, with fans occasionally yelling at each other to quieten down.

After levelling in the second set, the world No. 54 was handed a lifeline when Russia’s Kalinskaya retired three games down in the third due to injury.

Zheng next faces Czech player Marie Bouzkova, who beat Australia’s Kimberly Birrell 6-4, 6-4, in the third round.

Gauff digs deep

Earlier, Coco Gauff kept her composure to beat Camila Osorio 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-2, overcoming shaky serving to survive the second round.

The Colombian, ranked 66th, put up a formidable fight after double-faulting to lose a testy first-set tie-break, though she needed medicine to push through trouble with her back.

Osorio saved two match points but Gauff, the world No. 4, dug deep, rescuing long rallies with a solid backhand and cross-court saves.

“It was tough, it wasn’t the cleanest,” said the 22-year-old American after the 2hr 18min match.

“Just happy with how I was able to reset,” she said.

She next faces 582nd-ranked Chinese teenager Sun Xinran, who shocked Spain’s 27th seed Cristina Bucsa 6-4, 7-5.

Later on Oct 3, world No. 1 Elena Rybakina is scheduled to play Armenia’s 118th-ranked Alina Charaeva in the night session.

In the men’s draw, top seed Alexander Zverev thumped home hope Shang Juncheng 6-0, 6-3 and will face former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic on Oct 4 in the pick of the quarter-finals.

Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev both needed three sets to advance and will play each other in the last eight. AFP