CGTN Exclusive interview with Zhang Shuai

World
Europe

04:11

Chinese tennis player Zhang Shuai recently defeated Angelique Kerber of Germany during the Women's Singles 3rd Round match of the 2018 China Open on Thursday.

During an interview with CGTN's "Beyond the Baseline" series, Sports Scene caught up with Zhang before the game. She explained why she likes to play in the China Open. She beat world No. 1 in 2009 in Beijing, which gave her a lot of confidence and changed her life.

The 2016 Australian open was a huge move for the Chinese player, as she got through to the quarter-finals of the grand slam for the first time.

Before that, the 29-year-old lost confidence after the 2015 China Open upset and thoughts of retirement due to her forms.

But she decided to have one more try at the grand slam. The 2016 Aussie Open gave her great confidence to go on.

Speaking about this year's China Open, Zhang says that she would never have thought she would go this far because the second round opponent Timea Barbos was a hard opponent, but the in-form Zhang dominates the match to win 6-1, 6-2 to ease into the third round of the China Open.