A year ago, Zhu Lin watched the Asian swing from the sidelines, recovering from an elbow injury that kept her out for six months.
Ningbo: Scores | Draws | Order of play
She returned at this year’s Australian Open, but her comeback was rocky. The form that once lifted her to No. 31 in the world eluded her, and by the time she arrived in Montreal for the Canadian Open in late July, her ranking had plummeted — nearly dropping her out of the top 500.
But in Montreal, Zhu stunned then-No. 15 Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round and reached the Round of 16, offering a glimpse of a possible resurgence.
That promise remained unfulfilled until now.
After back-to-back wins over Emma Raducanu and Mirra Andreeva on home soil, Zhu has finally backed up that breakthrough. For the second straight day, she rallied from a set down to defeat a top 30 opponent, ousting the top seed Andreeva 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours and 17 minutes to close out a long Wednesday in Ningbo, with midnight fast approaching.
More to come…