Good morning and welcome to coverage of the second Australian Open women’s semi-final of the day between Dayana Yastremska and Qinwen Zheng.
Before the tournament started few would have expected these two players would be competing for a place in the final but here we are and it should be very finely poised.
Yastremska is the first women’s qualifier to reach the last four in Melbourne since 1978 and admits she didn’t think she would reach this stage.
”I didn’t think about it,” she said. “I came here, and I was just focusing on playing each match, on improving. I was working on some things that is a little bit, like, personal, you know. It was more associating with my head and with the way I feel on court. I wasn’t really putting the goal, you know, to go quarters, fourth round, semis or whatever. I was just trying to enjoy playing here. I don’t really feel like I’m playing good, I just try to play like I can because I’m really tired.
”I’m trying to take the maximum that I can from myself and the rest is just fight.”
Zheng, the WTA’s most improved player of 2023, will break into the world’s top 10 after the tournament and says she is proud of what she’s accomplished.
”There was a lot of meaning inside because everyone know what’s happened past years for me, a lot of ups and downs, and finally that I really can break through,” she said. “And then to arrive here as my real first time, I mean, the feeling is just — I can’t explain by word right now, because there were so many inside.
”I mean, happiness. Of course I’m proud of myself. Yeah, but, you know, this is just the beginning. I still need to play tomorrow. So I need to change fast the mentality and trying to stay my game plan for tomorrow (smiling).”