Take the mania surrounding Andy Murray, multiply it by ten and then add the number you first thought of and you are getting close to the adulation that now surrounds Zheng Jie. If Zheng is China’s new sporting pin-up, her people will adore her even more when they discover that she is not in professional tennis for the money, but has a heart of gold.

Zheng last night disclosed that she will donate her portion of her Wimbledon winnings — and they will be at least £187,500 — to China’s earthquake disaster fund in a gesture of astonishing generosity for a player whose total earnings this year amount to about £130,000.

Born in Cheng Du, the capital of the Szechuan province devastated in the disasters, Zheng wants to help her country and, although the Chinese tennis authorities take part of her winnings, she will give away her personal share.

Zheng had just made history as the first Chinese player to reach a Wimbledon semi-final and she will wake up this morning astonished to find that she is her nation’s new heroine after an estimated 100 million people followed her 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 victory over Nicole Vaidisova on television.

The fairytale could be punctured tomorrow, though, when Zheng is pitched against Serena Williams in the semi-finals. Williams had an easy passage against Agnieszka Radwanska, the No 14 seed, beating the 19-year-old Pole 6-4, 6-0.

In the other half of the draw. Elena Dementieva, the highest remaining seed, recovered from a mid-match wobble against Nadia Petrova to come through 6-1, 6-7, 6-3. The fifth seed will meet Venus Williams, the defending champion, in the last four.