On January 1, 2024, the first round of the WTA 250 Auckland tournament began, and China's Wang Xiyu defeated Christian 2-1 after a fierce battle of 2 hours and 47 minutes, and advanced to the second round with difficulty. This is the first victory of Chinese tennis in 2024, and it is a good start for Chinese tennis.
Wang Xiyu is one of China's three post-00s, her strength is still very good, she is currently ranked 70th in the world, and the only drawback is her mentality. This week she opted to compete in Auckland, where she faced world No. 89 Christian in the opening round. The two sides have played each other 1 time before, and the winner is Wang Xiyu.
In the first set, Wang Xiyu entered the state quickly, and the offensive winning points continued, and the success rate of one serve reached 75%, 20 percentage points higher than that of the opponent, and the break was completed in the first game, and the score came to 2-0 after easily holding serve. After the two held serve, the score came to 3-1. Wang Xiyu was in hot form, completed 2 breaks again, and easily won 6-1.
In the second set, Christian's form rebounded, and the two sides held serve in the first 10 games, and the score came to 5-5. At the critical moment, Wang Xiyu once again committed the problem of psychological instability, and was broken by the opponent in the 11th game, and the score came to 5-6. In the 12th game, after 5 ties, Christian struggled to hold serve and pull back a set 7-5.
In the third set, both sides held serve in the first two games, and the score came to 1-1. Wang Xiyu won 3 games in a row, and the score came to 4-1. Wang Xiyu missed a 5-2 advantage, and was broken by her opponent in the 9th game, and the final score came to 5-5. Wang Xiyu missed the match point, and the two sides held their serves, and the score came to 6-6 and entered the tiebreaker. In the tie-break battle, Wang Xiyu started 1-3, and then began to explode, winning 6 points in a row, winning 7-3, and winning 2-1.
In the whole game, Wang Xiyu's old problem was still not solved, and he didn't dare to play key games and key points, and he was always tied when he was in the lead. What I did better today was to hit a good shot in a row at the last moment of the tie-break, and finally won the feat of 6 points in a row, and won the first victory of the new year, and the ending was still good.
In the second round, Wang Xiyu's opponent is the winner between Wang Xinyu and Putintseva, and it is very likely that there will be a Chinese derby.