China's dancing 'Queen' delights record crowd

Last year, even following her first major quarterfinal in New York, Zheng Qinwen made her China Open debut to a threadbare audience on the Diamond Court.

This year, though, her first match in Saturday's second round drew a tournament-record single-day attendance of 39,000, even with three days to go before the traditional holiday break.

The star power of "Queen Wen", unleashed by Zheng's monumental Olympic gold-medal run in Paris, is real and happening.

The National Tennis Center in northern Beijing is witnessing an unprecedented turnout, with legions of fans, young and old, swarming Zheng's practice sessions, even on work days. A security presence rarely seen for any other player was deployed at her pre-tournament promotional events.

A first-come-first-serve media ticketing policy, normally prepared only for event finals, was activated for the first time for a second-round match on Saturday, due to high demand from a record number of journalists, photographers and broadcasters — exceeding 400 in number — covering the event on site.

The red-hot home favorite has lived up to her star billing by getting the first home outing in the wake of her Olympic triumph off to a flying start.

Serving aggressively and hitting hard to the loud roars of a capacity crowd, Zheng demolished Russian qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 6-1 in 75 minutes on Saturday night at the 15,000-seat Diamond Court. She advances, with ease, to a round-of-32 clash with Argentina's Nadia Podoroska on Monday.

The only thing that slowed Zheng down was a brief rain delay in the first set, during which the DJ played one of her favorite songs and the 21-year-old world No 7 couldn't help but groove to the beat.

After play resumed under a closed roof, Zheng went back firing on all cylinders, closing out the match in style with 22 winners to 10 unforced errors.

The national-hero status and high expectation from the crowd — normally a source of pressure for most home favorites — seem to be suiting Zheng well, as she revels in it and invites it as a source of motivation.

"I don't think so," replied Zheng when asked if the fervent home support brought with it more pressure.

"I might have felt that way when I was 19, crumbling in front a cheering home crowd, but I've experienced enough ups and downs now at 21, so I consider it an advantage," added Zheng, who's racked up 17 wins out of her past 19 matches, including her successful title defense in Palermo, Italy, her gold finish in Paris and a second US Open quarterfinal earlier this month.

"Especially when I am feeling down, I see all the people supporting me. It's a big confidence boost that provides me some extra energy," she said.

Organizers of the China Open are doing their part to make Zheng's homecoming a successful one, scheduling prime-time practices and matches and playing the Zheng's favorite tunes.

"I try to be serious, but they were playing that music, I couldn't control myself," she said, referring to her light moment during Saturday's match.

"I had to move with the music, sing with the music, because they were playing the songs I love. I was just curious why the audience wasn't dancing with me.

"I like traditional Chinese music. I listen to it a lot. I understand that the China Open played the song because of me."

Since her first-round loss at Wimbledon, Zheng has endured only two defeats over nearly three months, with the first to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Cincinnati's second round, and then to world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka in New York.

"After the US Open, I've had quite a solid preparation for this tournament. I put a lot of work into my fitness. I have high expectations for myself on the China swing," said Zheng, whose best Grand Slam performance was a final appearance at this year's Australian Open.

"I made some mistakes after the Australian Open. I've learned that I need to stay focused and composed approaching every match. I'll keep doing that, and let's see if I can maintain a high level and be as consistent as possible."

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn