A year ago, Zhu Lin watched the Asian swing from the sidelines, recovering from an elbow injury that kept her out for six months.

Ningbo: Scores | Draws | Order of play

She returned at this year’s Australian Open, but her comeback was rocky. The form that once lifted her to No. 31 in the world eluded her, and by the time she arrived in Montreal for the Canadian Open in late July, her ranking had plummeted — nearly dropping her out of the top 500.

But in Montreal, Zhu stunned then-No. 15 Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round and reached the Round of 16, offering a glimpse of a possible resurgence.

That promise remained unfulfilled until now.

After back-to-back wins over Emma Raducanu and Mirra Andreeva on home soil, Zhu has finally backed up that breakthrough. For the second straight day, she rallied from a set down to defeat a top 30 opponent, ousting the top seed Andreeva 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours and 17 minutes to close out a long Wednesday in Ningbo, with midnight fast approaching.

Here’s Zhu’s win by the numbers:

1: It’s her first win over Andreeva in their second career meeting. The first came just last month in Beijing, where Andreeva won in straight sets.

3: It’s Zhu’s third career win over a top 10 opponent, and her first since defeating Caroline Garcia in the Cleveland quarterfinals in 2023. 

67: Unforced errors from Andreeva, including 47 in the final two sets.

219: Zhu entered the week ranked outside the top 200. She’s already up to No. 170 in the PIF WTA Live Rankings.

623: Days since Zhu last played in a quarterfinal at the 2024 Thailand Open. She would go on to reach the final, where she would lose to Diana Shnaider.

Shnaider rallies past Muchova

Speaking of Shnaider, she also needed a three-set comeback to reach the Ningbo quarterfinals, defeating Karolina Muchova 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.

The match, featuring world No. 19 Shnaider and No. 20 Muchova, was a different kind of three-setter, however, as none of the sets were close.

After struggling for the past two months, Shnaider found her rhythm in the second set. She forced 11 break points across the final two sets, converting five and facing just one of her own, which she saved. Her serve was dominant in the final set, as she landed 84% of her first serves and won 88%, allowing her to seal the win in just under two hours.

Her upcoming match against Zhu will be their third meeting at the WTA level. The most recent came in the aforementioned 2024 Thailand Open final, where she Shnaider won in three sets.

A win would give Shnaider a 3-0 record against Zhu and would punch her ticket to the semifinals.

In other Ningbo news, Ajla Tomljanovic rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the first set to defeat Zeynep Sonmez in straight sets, advancing to her first WTA quarterfinal since reaching the semifinals at the WTA 250 event in Morocco in late May.