China's aces hoping for a long run on the lawns of London

With the country's top-two aces both enjoying quite a positive warm-up on grass, tennis fans in China are eager to tune in and, perhaps, witness the nation's best Wimbledon campaign in years.

A semifinal run by world No 5 Zheng Qinwen, followed by a career-first final appearance of 33rd-ranked Wang Xinyu, both at recent grass-court WTA 500 events, have sent an encouraging signal leading up to the season's third major — China's current best have finally found their feet on the tricky surface and are ready to try to match their predecessors' heroics at the prestigious All England Club.

Despite being outranked by reigning Olympic champion Zheng, the 23-year-old Wang has emerged as a red-hot contender at this year's Wimbledon, which swings off main draw action on Monday, after she stunned four top-20 opponents in a row, including world No 2 and Roland Garros winner Coco Gauff, en route to the final at last week's Berlin Open — setting down a clear marker about her new-found confidence on grass.

Although not seeded in the 128-player draw, Wang believes her breakout week in the German capital could help unleash more of her power on the lawns of London at her fourth Wimbledon appearance.

"I think it's definitely a big encouragement for me to achieve such a breakthrough last week," said Wang, who was eventually edged out 2-1 by 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the Berlin final to miss out on a first WTA singles title.

"Perhaps I wouldn't say it before last week, but if you ask me now, I'd pick grass as my favorite surface.

"To be able to hang in there, compete toe-to-toe against such a great player on grass — a former Wimbledon champion — and push her hard in such a close match, I think it says a lot about my improvement on grass as well," said Wang, who squandered a huge 6-2 lead in the critical first-set tiebreak to eventually come up short against the Czech ace.

Wang's previous best at Wimbledon was last year's round-of-16 appearance, her deepest run at any Slam, and the same distance she reached on the hard courts of the 2023 US Open.

She's skipped this week's Bad Homburg Open, also in Germany, to focus on fine-tuning her moves, fast-paced returns and serves on grass to prepare for Wimbledon.

"I have to keep it secret, though," Wang said of her recent technical drills during an online interview with Chinese media on Wednesday.

Wang has also become the first ever Chinese woman to reach the final of a WTA 500 grass-court tournament, as retired stars Li Na, Zheng Jie and veteran Zhang Shuai all made grass-court finals, but only at WTA 250 level.

At Wimbledon Zheng Jie reached the semifinals in 2008, becoming the first Chinese player, man or woman, to fight into the final-four at a Slam, while two-time major winner Li (2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open) made it to the quarters three times in 2006, 2010 and 2013.

Zhang was the last Chinese player to reach the quarters in 2019, and no other has gone beyond that mark since then.

Apparently not as dangerous on grass as she is on hard courts and clay, China's 5th seed Zheng Qinwen remains a force to be reckoned with, having shown impressive recent form of her own on grass by reaching the HSBC Championship final at the Queen's Club two weeks ago.

With a final run at last year's Australian Open and a gold-medal finish at the Paris Olympics, Zheng is fired up and ready to back up her elite credentials on all surfaces, with this year's Wimbledon a fitting opportunity to prove it.

The 22-year-old's best result at Wimbledon was a third-round run on her tournament debut in 2022.

China's world No 82 Yuan Yue has also qualified for the women's main draw through ranking, while 307th-ranked Zhu Lin will appear in the main draw as well, via the protected ranking policy.

In the men's draw, world No 69 Buyunchaokete will be the sole Chinese representative, with higher-profile aces Zhang Zhizhen and Shang Juncheng both having withdrawn due to injuries.