On April 24, Beijing time, the 2022 season WTA500 Stuttgart women's doubles final ended the competition, and in the end, the transnational combination of Chinese Jinhua Zhang Shuai and American star Gao Fu, after two sets of battles, regrettably defeated the no. 2 seed Krautsk and Shuls combination of the tournament, and did not have the opportunity to win the first women's doubles championship of the new season. But Zhang Shuai and Gao Fu reached the final for the first time together, and the results have exceeded expectations. This is Zhang Shuai's first women's doubles final in 2022, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent clay and grass seasons. Previously, Zhang Shuai's partner in the women's doubles event was former US Open women's singles champion Stosur, but in recent games, the two have not been paired.
In this Stuttgart competition, Zhang Shuai and Gauff are the top seeds in the women's doubles event. Both have good strength in singles, but because they are partnering in women's doubles for the first time, whether they can achieve excellent results still need to be a question mark. In the previous semi-finals, facing No. 4 seeds Shuko Aoyama and Zhan Haoqing, Zhang Shuai and Gao Fu cooperated very tacitly on the field. Whether it was in the bottom line confrontation or in the hair relay link, they played a very good level and finally reached the final.
This is Zhang Shuai's first promotion to the women's doubles final in the new season, and the third women's doubles final of a WTA clay event in her career. The final opponents were No. 2 seeds Krautsk and Shuls, and the duo are currently in good shape, sweeping their opponents to advance in the first few rounds. Therefore, Zhang Shuai and Gao Fu's road to the crown will not be easy. In the first set, both sides entered the state quickly, Zhang Shuai and Gao Fu made more unforced mistakes on the field, while the opponents Krautsk and Shuls shot decisively, seizing zhang Shuai and Gao Fu's gap attack points many times.
In the end, Zhang Shuai and Gao Fu lost the first set 3:6. In the second set, Zhang Shuai and Gao Fu never entered the game state. Unable to put pressure on the opponent in terms of serving, Zhang Shuai and Gao Fu played extremely hard in the stalemate stage. From the data point of view, Zhang Shuai and Gao Fu only grasped 1 of the 15 break points in the whole game, and finally lost another set with a score of 4:6, and missed the women's doubles championship. Although he failed to win his first women's doubles championship trophy of the new season in Stuttgart, the runner-up results also gave Zhang Shuai a lot of confidence to start his clay season.
Many domestic fans said that the duo of Zhang Shuai and Gao Fu has the strength to impact the Grand Slam championship, and hopes that the two can further run into each other and participate in the competition for the French Open women's doubles event. But in the next WTA 1000 Madrid match, Zhang Shuai will partner with another foreign player, Sanders, and strive to achieve a new breakthrough. In recent seasons, Zhang Shuai has been a "labor model" player in China's golden flowers, in addition to the women's singles, she also participates in women's doubles and mixed doubles competitions, which is a huge test for her physical fitness. The clay season has arrived, can Zhang Shuai stand on the podium of the women's doubles championship?
(Luo Treasurer)