On January 20, the fourth matchday of the 2022 Australian Open, the second round of the women's singles competition continued. Following China's Wang Qiang's defeat of Belgium's Ujtfank, Zhang Shuai also defeated his rival Leibakina 6-4, 1-0 to make it into the women's singles top 32 list, giving a big gift for tomorrow's 33rd birthday in advance. In addition, the 20-year-old Chinese player Wang Xinyu missed the advantage of winning the first set and was reversed, unfortunately losing the second seeded player Sabalenka, regrettably missing the round of 32.
Chinese teenager Wang Xinyu took the lead, and this round of matches Wang Xinyu faced No. 2 seed Sabalenka for the first time, which was also the first time in her career to face a TOP5 player. In the first set, Sabalenka was in poor form, with a series of mistakes, and only in the first set, he gave 12 double errors, and Wang Xinyu seized the opportunity to win the first set 6-1. In the second set, Sabalenka found the rhythm of the game, causing a lot of trouble for the young Wang Xinyu, and Sabalenka, who was in good shape, scored consecutive breaks and scored to win back a set 6-5. The decider entered a break war, and China's young player Wang Xinyu withstood the pressure and chased the score, but due to the huge gap in strength with his opponent, he ended the third set 2-6. After three hard sets, No. 2 seed Sabalenka reversed the match 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, and China's Wang Xinyu missed the third round of women's singles.
Interestingly, while Sabalenka, who is world number two in this round, won the game, the process of winning was not easy. Obviously, she needs to overcome not only her opponents, but also her own mentality. In the first set, Sabalenka contributed 12 double errors, including 6 in one serve, and 19 double errors in the whole game, adding more possibilities and watchability to the game.
After the game, China's Wang Xinyu also reviewed the game in an interview, saying that there was still a chance to win in the last two sets, but it was a pity that he could not grasp the opportunity. Although she did not advance to the third round, Wang Xinyu was still relatively satisfied with her performance at the Australian Open. "It's my first time winning a Grand Slam main tournament, and both of those games, including the first round, have learned a lot from it, and it's a good start to 2022." At the same time, Wang Xinyu said that the cooperation with British coach Hughes is gradually getting better, and the two will work together for a long time. "There must have been some sparks from the impact, so I decided to continue to work together, he has brought a lot of high-ranking players, whether on the field or off the field, will give me some advice based on his experience, which helps me a lot."
Subsequently, Zhang Shuai appeared against the twelfth seed Lebakina. This is the third time the two have fought, and in the previous confrontation between the two, Lebakina defeated Zhang Shuai. At the beginning of the first set, the two sides served relatively solidly, neither of them found the opportunity to break, after the break, Zhang Shuai broke Lebakina's serve, took the initiative, and kept his own serve, 6-4 to win the first set. In the second set, Zhang Shuai broke The Serve of Laibakina again, won the first point, and during the break between the sets, Laibakina seemed to be unwell, and suddenly applied for withdrawal in the subsequent matches, giving Zhang Shuai a birthday gift for his birthday tomorrow. Therefore, Zhang Shuai advanced to the third round of women's singles 6-4, 1-0, and once again broke into the women's singles round of 32 after two years.
In the second round, China had five Golden Flowers in the tournament, Wang Qiang defeated Van Uuitfank 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the first day of the tournament, and Zhang Shuai defeated Leibakina 6-4, 1-0 in the next day's tournament to advance to the round of 32. The other three Golden Flower Kings Xiyu, Zheng Qinwen and Wang Xinyu all encountered strong opponents, Wang Xiyu lost to No. 4 seed Kregitskova 2-6, 3-6, Zheng Qinwen lost to No. 5 seed Sakkari 1-6, 4-6, and Wang Xinyu lost to No. 2 seed Sabalenka 1-6, 6-4, 2-6, regrettably stopping in the second round.
China's Wang Qiang and Zhang Shuai will advance to the third round of the women's singles tournament, competing against American Champion Keyes and Belgian famous Mertens respectively to compete for a place in the round of 16.
[Reporter] Wang Fang Intern Lu Yaming
[Photo] Xinhua News Agency
【Author】 Wang Fang
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client
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