Wild card Zheng Qinwen finally wins in straight sets to reach China Open semi-finals

Home-grown hero Zheng Qinwen pulled out some of her best tennis to beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 at the China Open on Friday and storm into the semi-finals.

Zheng, a wild-card entry in Beijing, finally notched her first straight-sets win of this year’s tournament, having needed more than 10 hours on court to get to the quarter-final.

The world No 54 sent the crowd roaring as she punched winners down the line, though the seventh-ranked Svitolina came back fighting to force a second-set...