By Chris Oddo | Monday, January 25, 2016
China's Zhang Shuai continued her torrid play in Melbourne, taking down American Madison Keys in three sets to reach the quarterfinals.
Photo Source: Corleve
China’s Zhang Shuai’s remarkable run at the 2016 Australian Open continued at full throttle on Monday night in Melbourne as the 27-year-old reached the quarterfinals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over last year’s semifinalist Madison Keys. Zhang, who had never won a match at a major before last week, becomes China’s No. 1 player as a result of her improbable run.
More: Victoria Azarenka, NFL Superfan
“Very exciting,” Zhang told reporters after her victory. “Very happy, yeah. I don't want to stop. I want more steps.”
In her fifth career meeting with Keys, Zhang dropped the opening set to the hard-hitting American, but an injury to the upper thigh slowed Keys’ progress in the second set and Zhang rallied to level.
After Keys took an early lead in set three, the Chinese rallied to take the final five games to set up an all-unseeded quarterfinal with Great Britain’s Johanna Konta.
Konta’s victory was also an improbable one. The 24-year-old rallied from a set down to get past Ekaterina Makarova 4-6, 6-4, 8-6. In doing so, Konta becomes the first woman from Great Britain to reach the last eight at a major in 32 years. Konta had won just 1 of 8 Grand Slam matches prior to last year's U.S. Open, where she reached the round of 16. This year in Melbourne, she has continued her upward trend.
“I'm just incredibly happy and humbled with the way I was able to compete today,” Konta said. “That's the thing I'm most happy about.”
Konta, who was ranked 147 in the world just over a year ago, failed to serve out the match on her first opportunity at 6-5 in the final set, but made no mistake two games later.
“Yeah, I mean, the fact that it is the Australian Open and it was fourth round, that's pretty cool,” she said. “But, yeah, no, just given the situation, given the toughness of the match, of my opponent, I'm just really happy with how I was able to handle things and to keep trekking on.”