At the Net: Better late than never for Peng Shuai

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – Chinese tennis has been dominated by Li Na for quite some time, but late-bloomer Peng Shuai has decided she may have something to say about that.

This week China’s No. 3 Peng secured a berth in her first-ever Grand Slam singles semifinal, doing so at the U.S. Open, where, prior to this year, she’d only made it past the third round on one occasion, in 2011.

As a matter of fact, the 28-year-old Hunan native had never reached a major quarterfinal until this week.

The soft-spoken 13-year pro needed 37 Grand Slam events, including 10 U.S. Opens, to finally breakthrough to a final four, a wait that ranks as the sixth longest on the WTA.

The Australian Open champion and former world No. 2 Li was forced to skip the U.S. Open because of a knee injury, enabling Peng to carry the torch for her country, and she’s done so with ease thus far at this Big Apple fortnight, going 5-0 through the first five rounds without dropping a set. At the time of this article, Peng was slated to meet former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the semis.

The unseeded world No. 39 Peng has dismissed three seeded players in New York, including No. 4 and former Wimbledon runner-up Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round.

Peng is more of an accomplished doubles player, currently ranked No. 3 in that discipline. Over that last 12 months she’s captured a WTA Finals doubles championship, two Grand Slam doubles titles, and briefly held the No. 1 doubles ranking. She’s a 16-time doubles champion on the tour, including Grand Slam wins at this year’s French Open and last year’s Wimbledon. And when she reached No. 1 in doubles, she became the first Chinese professional tennis player (male or female, singles or doubles) to reach No. 1.

But she believes her recent singles success is the result of improved fitness, increased confidence and, of course, good timing.

“From the beginning of the year I was doing a lot of fitness and also kept practicing, trying to improve my game,” Peng said. “Maybe this time I find a way or I catch the right time. I don’t know. And then I just try to do what I can do on the court. Maybe before in the match I was tight or nervous, afraid to play, but this time, for this moment, I feel I was quite okay.”

After her quarterfinal victory over 17-year-old Swiss Belinda Bencic this week, Peng won the hearts of many new fans not only with her game, but with a tearful post-match interview where she showed just how much the moment meant to her.

“It’s tough, sometimes I was thinking to give up and almost stop playing because I didn’t know if I could make it,” she said, fighting back tears as the New York crowd cheered. “But my coach, my parents always told me to fight, to keep going and to never, ever give up — this day was coming.”

As a 12-year-old, Peng had surgery for a heart defect and couldn’t play tennis until her doctor gave her clearance about a year later. She cited that moment as one of two in which she considered giving up the sport. The other challenging moment came in 2006 when, after falling out of the Top 50, she lost in the first round at seven tournaments, including two Slams.

In 2011, Peng soared to a career-high No. 14 in singles, thanks to fourth-round appearances at the Aussie Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open.

“I’m always happy to make the second week because when the tournament started, I know I’m not a seeded player, and I didn’t know how I was going to do, because you never know,” Peng said. “I don’t know where the draw is going to put me. So now I’m really happy to be into the second week.”

The diminutive Peng is still seeking that elusive first-ever singles title at the WTA level, having finished as a runner-up six times, including this year against her compatriot Li in Shenzhen in their homeland.

Following the bridesmaid finish in Shenzhen in January, Peng struggled with a series of mostly early tournament losses before finding a spark at Wimbledon, where she reached the fourth round before losing to eventual champion Petra Kvitova.

Peng has a surprisingly big game and moves superbly, which has helped her enjoy the most outstanding performance of her career over the last two weeks.

Maybe the time is now for Peng.

Categorized in: Tennis