As Zhang Shuai stepped to the baseline, needing one good serve to knock off Karolina Pliskova, the world’s No. 1 player, she did so with experience.
In 2009, when she was ranked 226th, Zhang defeated the No. 1 player at the time, Dinara Safina, in a shocking upset at the China Open in Beijing. Like Safina, Pliskova is a top-ranked player who has never won a Grand Slam event, adding more pressure to the moment, especially in such an early round.
“I know all the opponents are behind me,” Pliskova said of the rankings, “so I should win every match, which is tough.