Peng Shuai Into First Grand Slam Semifinal

China’s Peng Shuai, who has long toiled in the shadows of her more accomplished compatriots Li Na and Zheng Jie, is having the tournament of her life at the US Open.

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After taking down Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 6-1, on Arthur Ashe Stadium today, the Chinese No. 3 let all her emotions out in this heartwarming on-court interview with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi.

Peng, who has not dropped serve since the second round, is the second Chinese player to have reached the US Open semifinals, and the third Chinese player to reach the semifinals of a major.

All of this occurred in her 37th major, and Peng tells Rinaldi that at times she was considering giving up. Peng, who is currently the world’s No. 3 doubles player, became China’s first player to ever hold the No. 1 ranking when she reached the top spot in doubles earlier this season. She is a two-time Grand Slam champion in doubles.

She reached as high as No. 14 in the WTA rankings in 2011, but she had gone 0-5 in her five previous round of 16 matches at majors.