The Frenchwoman Océane Dodin (95th) was unable to do anything, Monday January 22, in the round of 16 of the Australian Open against the Chinese Qinwen Zheng, fifteenth player in the world and seed number twelve in Melbourne. The young Chinese (21 years old) gave a real tennis lesson to her opponent and won in two sets (6-0, 6-3) after only 59 minutes of play.
Quarter-finalist in the last US Open, Zheng was the clear favorite in this meeting. Dodin had never gone beyond the 2nd round of a major tournament. For her first round of 16, she appeared confused, as if paralyzed by what was at stake, and never really entered the game.
Aged 27, the tall Lille native (1.83 meters) is one of the most powerful players on the circuit, but Zheng, who plays in the same register as her, was much more mobile and more regular. Unable to let go of her punches, quickly overwhelmed in the exchange, the Frenchwoman never succeeded in making her opponent doubt, loudly supported by the Chinese community of Melbourne.
First set of twenty-four minutes
Dodin, who had not given up a single set since the start of the tournament, lost the first round in just twenty-four minutes. Broken from the start, she made too many mistakes to then hope to reverse the situation.
After a severe (6-0), the Northerner had to wait until the start of the second set to finally win her first service game, equalizing at one game all. But Zheng, full of confidence, continued his undermining work, making another break to lead three games to one.
With the energy of desperation, by exploiting a few unforced errors from her opponent, the Lille player managed to get back to three games at two. But the gap between the two players was far too great and Qinwen Zheng then made two new breaks to conclude without trembling with six games to three.
After New York, the world number 15 reached a second consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final. In a high part of the table where many favorites have left, she will face, in the next round, Anna Kalinskaya (75th in the WTA), who beat, on Monday, the Italian Jasmine Paolini (31st): 6-4, 6-2. This will be a first for Kalinskaya, who had never gone beyond the second round in a Grand Slam before this Australian fortnight.
In the previous round, Océane Dodin emerged victorious in a 100% French duel against her compatriot Clara Burel (6-2, 6-4), 55th in the WTA rankings, who fell in the previous round to the American Jessica Pegula (5th in the world). . Alizé Cornet therefore remains the last Habs to have reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, in 2022.