Australian Open: Zheng Qinwen leads Chinese charge – and gets favourable first-round draw
Seven of China’s 10 players in year’s first grand slam face unseeded opponents, while defending champions Sinner, Sabalenka get challenging openers
Zheng Qinwen, the Paris Olympics gold medallist and China’s No 1 player, leads a contingent of 10 Chinese players in the main draw of the Australian Open, which starts at Melbourne Park on Sunday.
Seven of the Chinese were handed matches against unseeded opponents when the draw for the year’s first grand slam tournament was made at Melbourne Park on Thursday. Zheng, who was women’s runner-up last year, will meet a qualifier first up and is on a collision course with defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals.
Before Zheng’s potential meeting with the Belarusian, she could face compatriot Yuan Yue – one of the three Chinese players drawn against seeded opponents – in the third round.
Yuan will play 27th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the first round, while Wang Xinyu will meet Spanish 11th seed Paula Badoso.
Zhang Zhizhen, China’s top male player and the third Chinese player to face a seed, plays Danish 13th seed Holger Rune. Of the other Chinese men, rising star Jerry Shang Juncheng will face Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina while Bu Yunchaokete was drawn against a qualifier.
Meanwhile, men’s champion Jannik Sinner begins his title defence against Nicolas Jarry and Sabalenka takes on 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens.
