CHINESE tennis player Zhang Shuai reached the third round of the women’s singles at Wimbledon on Wednesday, along with men’s No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic.

Elsewhere, 15-year-old Cori Gauff, who saw off Venus Williams in the first round, continued her fairytale journey here, defeating Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia to secure a spot in the last 32.

Zhang, 30, defeated Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-3, 6-2, in doing so completing a personal milestone of reaching the last 32 at all four Grand Slams. Besides Zhang, Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai are the only other Chinese players to have achieved this feat.

“I was not good at playing on grass, but it’s amazing that I have played my best two games of the year here,” said Zhang. “I think I am making progress, even though I am a 30-year-old veteran!”

Talking about her breakthrough, Zhang said she was surprised by her own performance.

“It was funny. When I was warming up before this match, Samantha Stosur told me I did a great job winning the first round, I said, ‘I still wonder who played that match? Was it really me?’” Zhang said.

Zhang defeated 23rd seed Caroline Garcia of France on Monday in the competition’s first round.(Xinhua)