Chinese qualifier and world No. 133 Shuai Zhang upset the current world No. 2 Simona Halep of Romania with stunning straight sets 6-4, 6-3 victory to advance to the second round of the 2016 Australian Open at the Margaret Court Arena on Tuesday night.

Zhang battled her way to her fifth consecutive Australian Open appearance after beating the veteran Virginie Razzano of France (World No. 209th)  in a two-and-a-half hour rubber match 4-6, 6-2, 8-6 in the qualifying tournament.

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Zhang has competed in a total of 14 grand slam appearances, but she has never won a single match and ended up being defeated. However, with a sensational and sentimental win over the tournament's second seed Simona Halep at Melbourne, the Chinese qualifier has finally able to break her losing streak.

In her post-match interview on court, Zhang was initially too overcome with emotion to talk, moving the crowd to an extended round of applause.

"Today is the best moment of my career...beating a top-two player. I'm so happy, so excited," she said, after composing herself.

Zhang raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set. Halep, who is suffering from a cold and currently nursing an Achilles injury, mustered a comeback to close the match to 5-4, but the Chinese player broke her serve to claim the first set of the game.

In the second set of the game, the world No. 2 took a 3-1 lead before Zhang fired back and sealed victory when the Romanian star failed to get her forehand return back.

Zhang saved nine break points in the match, which lasted one hour and 18 minutes.

Zhang started tennis at the early age of six. She plays right handed (double handed backhand) and likes to play on a hard surface. She reached her career high singles ranking of world No. 30 on July 7, 2014.

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