The second seed, Simona Halep was pitted against qualifier Zhang Shuai in the first round. What looked like an easy win on paper, turned out to be a real contest. Zhang, with nothing to lose, gave her all on the biggest stage of all outplaying the Romanian and knocked her out of the Australian Open with an impressive 6-4, 6-3 score line.
A Set Which Produced Amazing Winners
It was evident from the get go as to what Zhang's game plan was. It was to be aggressive and she stuck to it throughout the match. The Chinese made Halep run side-to-side in the rallies and applied pressure on Halep's serve from the onset. She was rewarded with three break points in the second game of the set for her efforts. Zhang let rip a powerful forehand to secure the break and lead 2-0.
The Romanian however was not ready to be bullied as she came fighting back in the third game and created three break opportunities for herself. Zhang hung on and hit some wonderful winners to save the break points before finally closing the game to extend her lead to 3-0.
The set went on in a similar fashion, with the Chinese dictating play from the baseline and the Romanian being forced to be defensive. The 133rd ranked Zhang, hit a beautiful backhand down the line to set up another break point in the fourth game. Halep saved one but could not save another. The Chinese hit a wonderful backhand taking Halep out wide before finishing with a forehand to the same side as she broke again.
Zhang was fearless and not afraid to go for her shots, even the most difficult ones. Her aggressive play though created errors as she had a poor fifth game which allowed Halep to get one break back. The second seed seemed to have found her groove and hit winners of her own to finally hold serve for 4-2. The Romanian's fight back was on as she went in search of the break back.
Zhang however hit another backhand down the line winner, reminiscent of Halep, as she saved break point yet again. Both women held serve to make it 5-3. The Chinese missed her chance to close the set on her serve but wrapped it up 6-4 on Halep's serve with a fine drive volley while hitting a staggering 20 winners in the first set.
Halep Fights Back But It Was Not Enough
Halep fought hard to get back in the match and was up a break in the second set leading 3-1. Errors started trickling into Zhang's aggressive play as she handed two break points to Halep in the fifth game. The Chinese held on eking out a tough hold to trail 2-3. The second seed was made to do alot of running again and faced two break points. Zhang was pushing and going for the difficult shot and missed the first opportunity. But she does not miss at the second chance, this time with a forehand down the line winner leaving Halep helpless as she broke back to level at 3-3.
At 4-3, Halep played an error strewn game and Zhang pounced to lead 5-3. The qualifier was a game away from creating another upset. Zhang showed no nerves as she sealed a great victory with a forehand down the line winner to record her first ever win in a grand slam in 15 attempts defeating the world number two.
A visibly emotional Zhang said, "My best tennis. I'm so happy", as she fought back tears after the hard earned win. The Chinese had already thought about retiring coming into the Australian Open after disappointing runs in majors. "If Australia Open, not good, maybe finish tennis", added the 26-year-old in an interview later. And what a way to start things off for her, and guess she will not be finished with tennis just yet as she next meets Varvara Lepchenko in the second round.
Match Statistics
Zhang hit an incredible 31 winners to Halep's 11. The Chinese did hit more unforced errors as she pushed hard for the shots, hitting 24 to Halep's 17. The Romanian only converted three out of her 12 break points while Zhang successfully convert five out of the seven she created.