Wang Yafan must feel as if she’s playing with absolutely nothing to lose after her latest victory at the Australian Open.
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This is a Grand Slam tournament she probably didn’t even expect to be playing in, given she was outside the main-draw ranking cut-off when AO 2024 entry lists were announced in December.
Several withdrawals meant the Chinese 29-year-old – then ranked outside the top 100 – sneaked into the field.
She drew two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and 22nd seed Sorana Cirstea as her first-round opponent, and promptly lost the first nine games of the match, at one stage trailing 6-0 4-1.
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But an extraordinary comeback followed, setting up a clash with 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu.
She came through that, too, after a glorious two-hour, 54-minute battle to reach the third round at a major tournament for the first time in her career.
“Feeling very happy. This is first time I play with her, and also first time win the second round (at a Grand Slam). So for me it's a little bit maybe crazy,” Wang said after the 6-4 4-6 6-4 result.
Wang has not just suddenly caught fire at Melbourne Park.
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This is the continuation of stellar form which defined her 2023 season, during which she thrived on the secondary ITF and WTA 125K circuits to win six titles from eight finals.
This match toughness and deep reservoir of confidence is arguably what separated her from Raducanu on Thursday night.
While the British star shut down her 2023 season in April – having played just 10 matches to that point – and underwent three surgeries, Wang played 73 matches and won 59 of them.
As their duel entered a third set at 1573 Arena, Raducanu visibly wilted and required a medical timeout at 2-0 to have her blood pressure checked. She seemed to experience something of a second wind, but Wang was relentless and intelligently aggressive, despite later revealing that she experienced “just a little bit” of cramping of her own.
She emerged the winner of a tussle that featured 47 rallies of nine shots or more.
It was encouraging to see Raducanu competing again after so many injury struggles. Her comeback began in Auckland last week, where she extended eventual finalist Elina Svitolina to three sets in a second-round loss.
She won another match this week at Melbourne Park, and was just a few games away from reaching the third round of a major tournament since her fairytale triumph in New York.
“I'm very positive, very happy with how my body is … I think if I keep my work consistent, I have a good shot,” Raducanu said.
“This is obviously only my first trip back. I think that tidying up some of the areas, tidying up a bit of technique and things, also just getting used to playing matches outdoors, as well, because the conditions today were very windy.
“I think she handled it a lot better, the wind. She jumbled me. She moon-balled me. She gave me a lot of these scrappy little shots, but it worked.
“I need to spend more time on tour, spend more time training, and putting good weeks together.”
Ultimately it was Wang advancing to a third-round clash with compatriot Zheng Qinwen, the 12th seed at AO 2024 and China’s No.1 ranked player.
“I think it's very good for Chinese tennis because the match who(ever) win, we have people together third round,” Wang said.
“I didn't play with her before. It's first time. Also, she play very good, so I just try to do my best.”