On January 26, Beijing time, in the semi-final of the Australian Open mixed doubles, the combination of Zhang Shuai / Pierce was dragged into the tenth with the first set, and finally lost 2-10 to Mladenovic / Dodiger and missed the final.
At present, Zhang Shuai has achieved good results at the level of Grand Slam doubles, winning the women's doubles championship in the Australian Open in 2019 and the US Open in 2021, ranking 8th in the world in doubles. Zhang Shuai's mixed doubles partner in this competition, Australian Pierce is a full-time doubles player, ranked 12th in the world. As the No. 2 seed, the two came to the semi-finals this time, meeting the No. 5 seed Mladenovic/Dodig.
In the first set, Zhang Shuai/Pierce took the lead in completing the break in the 4th set, and then the 2 people forced the break point again with a bang, and successfully grasped, after the 2 degree break, Zhang Shuai/Pierce did not give the opponent any chance, and easily won the first set 6-1.
In the second set, the two sides protected each other's serves and fought all the way to a 5-5 draw. At this time, Mladenovic/Dodiger took advantage of the starting advantage to exert pressure, the No. 5 seed struck strongly, and Zhang Shuai/Pierce suffered a break in the unavoidable serve and lost the second set 5-7.
The two sides entered a 10-grab showdown, Zhang Shuai/Pierce morale was low, Mladenovic/Dodiger continued the strength at the end of the second set, continued to pull the score, the suspense disappeared, Mladenovic/Dodiger won the grab 10-2, eliminating Zhang Shuai/Pierce to advance to the final.
At this point, Zhang Shuai's final women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles of the Australian Open were out, and he did not win the third crown of his personal Grand Slam. In 2022, Zhang Shuai's performance in the first Grand Slam was remarkable, and China Jinhua also ended this Australian Open trip, which was also remarkable.