Zheng Qinwen battles to second spherical as storms lash Melbourne Park

Thunderstorms lashed Melbourne Park on the opening day of the Australian Open however fifth seed Zheng Qinwen safely reached spherical two.

Lower than an hour of play was attainable on the surface courts on the primary morning earlier than an intense storm hit, sending spectators scurrying for canopy as thunder crashed overhead and torrential rain left walkways trying like rivers.

Matches had been capable of proceed on the three lined courts, and Zheng, the runner-up final yr within the ladies’s singles, opened proceedings on Rod Laver Enviornment.

The Chinese language star, who went on to win Olympic gold in Paris, didn’t have issues all her personal manner towards Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni however battled to a 7-6 (3) 6-1 victory.

Zheng appeared in full management serving for the set at 5-4 and main 40-0 just for Todoni to win 5 factors in a row.

The Romanian then held three set factors with Zheng serving at 5-6 however couldn’t take any of them and issues had been comfy for the fifth seed thereafter.

“The primary match is all the time not simple,” mentioned Zheng in her on-court interview. “She’s enjoying actually good however I used to be doing a bit silly errors at 5-4 40-0, I don’t know what occurred there.”

Teenager Mirra Andreeva could possibly be an element come the latter phases of the match and he or she started strongly with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Marie Bouzkova.