Zheng Qinwen: Five things to know about China's new tennis sensation

BEIJING: Teenager Zheng Qinwen has lit up the French Open as the newest star to emerge from China, where the coronavirus pandemic and the Peng Shuai scandal have put top-level tennis on hold for more than two years.

The 19-year-old beat 2018 French Open winner Simona Halep in the second round at Roland Garros.

Zheng faces world number one Iga Swiatek on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals after her third-round opponent Alize Cornet retired with a thigh injury.

But who is Zheng Qinwen? AFP Sport picks five things to know about China's world number 74:

At the age of six, Zheng's father encouraged her to try different sports and commit to one of them. She had a go at basketball and badminton before choosing tennis.

Zheng was enrolled in a special residential coaching programme at the age of eight, moving away from her family home in Shiyan, in central China's Hubei province, to an academy in Grand Slam winner Li Na's home city of Wuhan.

In 2013, US talent scouts spotted Zheng at an open junior tournament in Florida and she signed her first contract with leading sports management agency IMG at the age of 11.

Zheng is one of the "Li Na generation" of young players who took up tennis after the success of China's first Grand Slam singles champion, who won the French Open in 2011 when Zheng was eight.

She watches 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer at every opportunity.

"I remember sitting in front of the TV watching Federer when I was a child, enjoying every shot ... inspiring me," Zheng wrote on China's twitter-like Weibo in August.

She uses the same type of Wilson Pro Staff tennis racquet as Federer, once calling it on Weibo a "must-have weapon for killing enemies".

Zheng has been based in Barcelona for the past two years and