“It means the world to me that I can win this match in front of you (the crowd) and have your support,” she added.
“I felt really good on the grass today and you also had your part for making this happen for me. Thank you so much and I can’t wait to see you in the next round.
“It’s a really good start. In practice, it went better than the last few years. For me, it’s never been easy to move on the grass because I had a big surgery on my knee so I’m a bit scared.
“This year I feel more confident and I’m trying to enjoy it more.”
Cristian and Zheng were made to wait for hours as the London weather conditions put a five-hour delay on the proceedings for the Andy Murray Arena.
When the covers came off – much to the delight of the crowd – the two got set to battle it out in testing conditions in the first match on the grass.
In a fifth meeting between the pair, last year’s semi-finalist Zheng got out to a 2-0 lead before losing the following four games.
The two tussled for momentum throughout the match but the Romanian managed to stave off a break point at 4-3 before going on to serve out the set.
Zheng missed a large chunk of the end of last season and didn’t return to the tour until February this year. She showed promising signs for the rest of her grass court season in the second set, where she didn’t face a single break point.
However, Cristian had the edge in the final tie-break. The Romanian got a crucial mini-break at 4-3 and then serving on her first match point, Zheng blasted the return long to complete a hard-fought victory.