Zhang Shuai (Photo : Getty Images)
China's hope for an Australian Open women's singles success this year remains alive after Zhang Shuai advanced breezed through American Varvara Lepchenko 6-1 6-3 to reach the tournament's round of 16.
There is no stopping Zhang's Cinderella run yet at the 2016 Australian Open as the 27-year-old Chinese made it three in a row after beating the veteran Lepchenko. Zhang, who orchestrated an upset over world No. 2 Simona Halep in the first round, hit 27 winners, along with 13 unforced errors, compared to Lepchenko's 18 winners and 26 unforced errors.
Prior to facing Lepchenko, Zhang defeated French Alize Cornet and revealed she wants to keep winning matches. The Chinese qualifier, who now seems to have a knack in winning at a Grand Slam event, holds a six-game winning streak stemming from the qualifying round of the Australian Open.
Zhang only needed 64 minutes to dismiss Lepchenko and move on to the fourth round of the first Grand Slam event of the year to face American Madison Keys, who defeated Ana Ivanovic 4-6 6-4 6-4 in a match that was suspended for more than an hour after the Serb's coach Nigel Sears collapsed in the stands.
Sears, father of world No. 2 Andy Murray's wife Kim, went down from a section of the crowd. Officials of the tournament quickly raced to the incident as Ivanovic and Keys stopped their match with a look of concern from the tennis court and left soon after, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Paramedics entered and carried Sears away in a stretcher, while the crowd applaud at the Rod Laver Arena. Tournament officials addressed the situation as "fairly critical," but still went on with the match after a while.
