Siegemund stuns Zheng in first top-five upset of Australian Open

German Laura Siegemund reached the third round of the Australian Open by beating Chinese Zheng Qinwen, the No 5 seed, 7-6 (3), 6-3 at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.

The German – who turns 37 in a few weeks – came out with a clear gameplan against one of the most in-form players of the past 12 months.

She played aggressive tennis, taking on the defending finalist in rallies and utilising her strong net game.

Siegemund reflects on biggest Grand Slam victory

“I knew I just had to play more than my best tennis,” Seigemund shared after the match.

“I had nothing to lose. I just told myself to swing free.

“She’s an amazing player, she’s one of the best players right now.

“But I know that I can play well, and I just wanted to make it a tough fight. You know, some days you just go outside and you have the ball and the racquet.

“I think I was dominating the baseline rallies. She’s obviously a much better server than me, so I tried to make the points once the ball was in the rally. I tried to be extremely aggressive, I tried not to do too many fancy thing, just to stick with my really clear plan.

“Then it was getting really physical, and I’m thinking about my off season, and why I’m doing all this running all the time. Then I told myself: now you have to run.”

Siegemund, ranked No 97, will play the winner of the match between No 27 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Anastasia Potapova next.

The 36-year-old German edged out American Hailey Baptiste (4-6, 7-5, 6-4) ahead of her victory.

In the previous round of the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2025 season, Zheng, ranked No 5, won against Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni (7-6 (3), 6-1).

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other second-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Rebecca Sramkova vs. Iga Swiatek
• Emma Raducanu vs. Amanda Anisimova
• Jaqueline Cristian vs. Lucia Bronzetti
• Eva Lys vs. Varvara Gracheva
• Yafan Wang vs. Daria Kasatkina
• Yulia Putintseva vs. Shuai Zhang
• Ons Jabeur vs. Camila Osorio
• Emma Navarro vs. Xiyu Wang
• Renata Zarazua vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Elina Svitolina vs. Caroline Dolehide
• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Katie Boulter
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Erika Andreeva
• Destanee Aiava vs. Danielle Collins
• Madison Keys vs. Elena-Gabriela Ruse
• Danka Kovinic vs. Dayana Yastremska
• Elena Rybakina vs. Iva Jovic
• Paula Badosa vs. Talia Gibson
• Coco Gauff vs. Jodie Burrage
• Jule Niemeier vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Harriet Dart vs. Donna Vekic
• Diana Shnaider vs. Ajla Tomljanovic
• Cristina Bucsa vs. Leylah Fernandez
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Karolina Muchova vs. Naomi Osaka: wednesday
• Belinda Bencic beat Suzan Lamens: 6-1, 7-6 (3)
• Jessica Pegula (7) beat Elise Mertens: 6-4, 6-2
• Olga Danilovic beat Liudmila Samsonova (25): 6-1, 6-2
• Moyuka Uchijima vs. Mirra Andreeva: wednesday
• Magdalena Frech (23) beat Anna Blinkova: 0-6, 6-0, 6-2
• Clara Tauson beat Tatjana Maria: 6-2, 6-2
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro: 6-3, 7-5