China's Zheng Qinwen serves against Leylah Fernandez of Canada during their women's singles quarter-final match on day five of the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament in Tokyo on Friday — AFP TOKYO, Oct 25 (AFP): Zheng Qinwen reached the Tokyo semi-finals on Friday despite admitting to struggling for motivation after winning Olympic gold and receiving a hero's welcome in her native China.
The top seed beat Canada's Leylah Fernandez 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 to set up a final-four showdown with Russia's number six seed Diana Shnaider.
Zheng became the first Chinese player to win Olympic singles tennis gold when she triumphed in Paris this summer.
She said her "life changed" as a result and she "couldn't walk on the street" when she returned to play in China last month.
The 22-year-old is playing in a more sedate environment at the Pan Pacific Open in the Japanese capital and said it was "tough to find motivation".
"Especially after I finished in China because I got big expectations, a lot of stress, a lot of pressure there to play good in the Chinese events," she said.
She said that her concentration dropped in the second set, but she refocused to reach her sixth semi-final of a breakout year.
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