In the past three months Zheng had reached the Wimbledon semifinals and claimed the Olympic bronze medal in doubles with partner Yan Zi. But beating Poland's Agnieska Radwanska 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday might matter just as much - both to fans and sponsors trying to establish a tennis base in China.
"I felt as a Chinese player in an event in China, I should perform well,'' she said. "This is very important for me.''
Zheng reached the semifinals last week in a WTA event in Guangzhou in southern China, but caught a cold in the process.
"I actually thought about withdrawing, but the China Open is in my homeland so I thought I should stay and keep trying.''
The four other Chinese women in the first round all lost Monday. Fortunately for Zheng, her match was delayed a day due to rain, which allowed her to shake off a fever. She also got another break when rain delayed the start of play four hours.
Zheng became a national heroine, saying after her Wimbledon success that she would donate her winnings in England to help survivors of the May 12 Sichuan earthquake that killed almost 70,000.
Zheng is from the Sichuan city of Chengdu, but she's not had time to return home.
"As a professional player I should finish my season first,'' Zheng said. "I have a few events after this and then I plan to go back and see what I can do for them.''
In matches scheduled for later Wednesday, No. 1 Jelena Jankovic would face Aleksandra Wozniak and No. 5 Vera Zvonereva would play Francesca Schiavone.
The China Open is a men's and women's event.
The men's No. 1 David Ferrer and No. 2 Andy Roddick were expected to play first-round matches on Thursday.
On Wednesday, No. 8 Sam Querrey of the United States defeated fellow American Jesse Levine 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4). Also, Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic beat Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Dudi Sela of Israel defeated Nicolas Devilder of France 6-4, 6-3; Jean-Claude Scherrer of Switzerland beat Peng Sun of China 6-4, 7-6 (7).
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