In the early morning of September 2, Beijing time, in the second round of the 2023 US Open women's singles, Chinese women's tennis player Wang Xinyu won six consecutive games after trailing 0-2 in the tiebreaker, and finally defeated Schmidrova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, reaching the round of 16 of the Grand Slam women's singles for the first time in her career. Next Wang Xinyu will face 10th-seeded and this year's French Open runner-up Mukhova. In the US Open women's doubles, the new Straits combination of Wang Xinyu and Xie Shuwei also passed the hurdle and advanced to the round of 16.
The US Open was once a sad place for Wang Xinyu. In the first round of the 2022 US Open women's singles, Wang Xinyu lost to her opponent ranked 167th in the world, and she cried sadly after being out of the first round. Wang Xinyu's world ranking once fell out of the top 100. A year later, Wang Xinyu has already developed her skills in the Grand Slam tournament and won the French Open women's doubles title.
Wang Xinyu had a smooth first set of the match, but had ups and downs in the unavoidable serve. Schmidrova broke serve to take a 6-4 lead, and Wang Xinyu made 19 unforced errors in this set. In the second set, Wang Xinyu scored a key point on his opponent's serve to break serve, after which the balance of victory tilted in Wang Xinyu's favor, this time Wang Xinyu equalized 6-3. Her unforced errors have been drastically reduced, with 11 winning points and a 100% online scoring rate, putting the game in her own hands.
At the beginning of the tiebreaker, Wang Xinyu's baseline backhand errors suddenly increased. Schmidlova seized the opportunity to achieve a break. Fortunately, Wang Xinyu survived the trough of physical fitness and then completed the restoration. Since then, Wang Xinyu has also found her touch in her own serve, and under pressure, Schmidlova's bottom-line ability and self-confidence have declined simultaneously, which also gives Wang Xinyu more room to play. Wang Xinyu went from trailing 0-2 in the decider to leading 5-2, and in the opponent's unavoidable serve, Wang Xinyu hit the ball more confidently, forcing two match points to win the match.
Reaching the round of 16 has already set the best result of Wang Xinyu's career in a Grand Slam singles tournament. Wang Xinyu also received 240 points and $284,000 in prize money, and her instant ranking reached a new high of 39th. Wang Xinyu has won eight Grand Slam tournaments this season, ranking first among Chinese players.
After the match, Wang Xinyu said in an interview that winning the three sets this time was a battle with a very high gold content. "In the game, my opponent played very well, I could only focus on every beat, every point. In this game, I played my favorite clean shots, with good strength and serve. She said. Talking about her breakthrough in the round of 16 at the US Open, Wang Xinyu said that she enjoyed the US Open match. Speaking of senior Li Na, Wang Xinyu said, "She is the leader of Chinese tennis, and I have not yet reached her height." Hopefully, with her encouragement, I can also go further. ”
After reaching the round of 16 in singles, Wang Xinyu then partnered with Chinese Taipei's Xie Shuwei in the women's doubles match, and the two defeated the Matek/Potapova combination 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 to advance to the last 16 of the US Open women's doubles.
Text/Beiqing Sports Chu Peng