BEIJING: Homegrown hero Zheng Qinwen pulled out some of her best tennis to beat Ukraine`s Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6(8/6) at the China Open on Friday and storm into a semi-final against Belgium`s Elise Mertens.

Zheng, a wildcard entry in Beijing, finally notched her first straight-sets win of this year`s tournament having needed more than 10 hours on court to get to the quarter-finals.

The world number 54 sent the crowd roaring as she punched winners down the line, though the seventh-ranked Svitolina came back fighting to force a second set tie-break.

Zheng double-faulted on the first point but crawled her way out from a 0-2 deficit and fell onto her back victorious after winning her second match point.

`Truthfully, because I really wanted tograb this win, I was really nervous,` the 24-year-old told the crowd.

`I played really aggressive in important moments,` she said, adding that her opponent `raised her level` in a tight second set.

Svitolina made just 13 unforced errors over the onehour-and-47-minute match, but was outgunned by 48 winners from the 2024 Olympic champion.

Mertens, the world number 19, beat Poland`s Iga Swiatek 7-6(7/0), 6-3, overcoming some nerves to dump out the 2023 title winner.

`I tried to be consistent. She`s a areatplayer, so I had to really push myself,` said Mertens, who had lost both of her two previousmatchesagainsteighth-seededSwiatek.

`It was really nerve-wracking at the end but I kept myself calm... I just can`t believe it.

The 30-year-old was the evening`s better technician, making just 11 unforced errors to Swiatek`s 34 across the one-hour-and50-minute affair.

Mertens had surged into her singles quarter-final after beating third-seeded Coco Gauff, also in straight sets.-AFP