Zhang reaches end of her rainbow

Her coach credits mental toughness for miracle run

Zhang Shuai's transformation from emotional wreck to Grand Slam quarterfinalist has been the feel-good story of the Australian Open, but also counts as a triumph for her faithful coach, Liu Shuo.

Zhang's amazing run came to an end on Wednesday when she lost 6-4, 6-1 to Britain's world No 47 Johanna Konta in the final eight - but not before the Chinese qualifier's fighting spirit was once again on full display.

Finding the right words to comfort a player after a loss is one of the tougher parts of a coach's job, so 37-year-old Liu had to get creative last year as Zhang struggled through a crisis of confidence that pushed her to the brink of quitting.

Zhang slumped to her 14th successive first-round Grand Slam exit at the French Open last year, a record among active players in the women's top 300, and her ranking, which peaked at 30 in mid-2014, hovered near 200.

As loss piled upon loss, Liu used boxing metaphors, the wisdom of Michael Jordan and lessons from his own low points as a Tour battler who never broke the top 1,000 to garnish his motivational speeches.

Zhang wondered if her coach was "cheating" her into persevering, but Liu never had any doubt she would turn things around.

"I told Shuai that she was totally different from other Chinese girls," Liu said at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

"I said, 'One day you will have huge success at the Grand Slams'. I just felt that for some people who have easy wins in the first or second round, they might not go much farther.

"But if you are always having to battle through the tough times and you never give up, you'll be a big, big success.

"If you give up there will be no chance to see the bright days. This is what I told her every time that we lost.

"It's like boxing - if someone hits you, don't fall down. Just try standing. Maybe there will be a second where you have an opening and 'bang!' Just hit back."

That opening came in the most unlikely of circumstances, when Zhang was drawn to play world No 2 Simona Halep in the first round, having grafted through qualifying as the world's 133rd-ranked player.

"Everyone (in China) said: '15 first-round exits coming soon'.

"Nobody believed in her. Maybe only her parents, me and her fitness coach," Liu said.

Zhang, from the northern Chinese port of Tianjin, had virtually resolved that Melbourne Park would be her last Grand Slam, so she brought her parents along to watch her play.

In the lead-up, she and Liu bought lottery tickets with a $15 million jackpot with friends on the Chinese social media platform WeChat.

"But I told Shuai, 'this isn't a great way to get rich. But tomorrow's match will take you 50 percent on the way to getting rich, to getting famous'," said Liu.

"'So tomorrow, show your best. It doesn't matter. Even if we lose, we have nothing to lose.

"If you make it, this won't just make the national news, this will be all over the world. It's going to be big."

Zhang beat Halep 6-4, 6-3 to snap the first-round losing streak and promptly burst into tears, barely able to speak during post-match interviews.

No fluke

She proved it was no fluke by upsetting seasoned Grand Slam performer Alize Cornet of France in the following round.

Her next win, over American Varvara Lepchenko, made her only the fourth Chinese woman to reach the last 16 at a Grand Slam after two-time champion Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai.

The 27-year-old put down injury-hit Madison Keys on Monday to set up Wednesday's quarterfinal match against Konta.

"Nobody could have predicted Zhang would make the quarters here," said Liu.

Not the media, not the senior mandarins at the Chinese Tennis Association or the high-profile foreign coaches who wrote her off when she trained with the national academy in Beijing.

"They would point to Zhang and say this one has no chance, she doesn't have the talent,'" said Liu.

"But I felt Zhang had the mental toughness, the psychology.

"They were talking about her physical talent, her explosiveness or her reaction times.

"There are many players in China who have these qualities but they lack the spirit.

"The first day when we came here for qualifying, nobody talked about us. There were no interviews, nobody cared," said the coach.

"Now, I've had to tell lots of Chinese media to keep calm, please don't give her any extra pressure.

"For sure, I don't want to limit her, I just want her to be free to play her best tennis and enjoy the moment."

Zhang Shuai talks with coach Liu Shuo during a practice session at the Australian Open on Tuesday. Reuters