Zheng Qinwen held her nerve through a topsy-turvy start to her 2025 Australian Open campaign, and kept a calm face despite a few stressful moments against Anca Todoni on Sunday.
“You think I am calm on court, but if you check the camera when I’m facing the fans, maybe my face is not so calm!” she joked to Andrea Petkvovic during her on-court interview.
A runner-up in 2024, the reigning Olympic champion got out to a strong lead under the roof on Rod Laver Arena only to find herself down set point in the first set before solving the Romanian in a tiebreaker.
“I was making stupid mistakes at 5-4, 40-0 for me, and I don’t know what happened there, and she played good in that moment,” explained Zheng, who ultimately edged through, 7-6 (3), 6-1.
“It’s just about trying to focus on the present, and not thinking about how I lost the last point or that it’s a set point for her. She saved so many set points as well, so I believed I could, too!”
