At 07:00 a.m. Beijing time on January 3, 2024, the 2024 WTA250 Auckland Station ushered in the first Chinese Golden Flower Derby of the new year. In a battle for the top 8, Wang Xiyu defeated Wang Xinyu 6-3/3-6/7-6(2) in the tie-break in three sets and advanced to the top eight.
Wang Xiyu
In this year's Auckland Station, China's Jinhua Wang Xinyu, Wang Xiyu and Yuan Yue all participated in the competition. It is gratifying that in the first round, the three golden flowers all defeated their opponents to reach the round of 16 and ushered in a good start to the new season. In yesterday's match, Wang Xiyu defeated Romania's Jacqueline Christian in three sets 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(3), while Wang Xinyu defeated Kazakhstan's Putintseva in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5. Xiaohua Yuan Yue also defeated American Kayla Day in three sets. China's golden flower rode the wind and waves, three battles and three victories.
Wang Xinyu
In the battle for the top 8, Wang Xinyu and Wang Xiyu, two golden flowers, met for the first time in the new year. The 2023 season saw both men make great strides and make major breakthroughs in their careers. Wang Xinyu entered the round of 16 of the US Open and won the French Open women's doubles title. Wang Xiyu won her first career tour title at the WTA 250 Guangzhou Station. Wang Xinyu is ranked 33rd in the world and is seeded No. 6. The international adult tournament record is 1-1 drawn.
In the first set, Wang Xiyu took the lead in serving, and after holding her first serve, she broke serve in Wang Xinyu's first service game and took a 2-0 lead in the opening game. Since then, both sides have held their own hairs. Wang Xiyu won the first set 6-3 with the key break in the opening game, leading Wang Xinyu 1-0.
In the second set, the two sides entered a break battle, and the competition became more intense. Wang Xinyu took the lead in playing, Wang Xinyu broke twice in the 4th and 8th games, and Wang Xiyu broke back once in the 5th game. In the end, Wang Xinyu relied on one more break to pull back a set 6-3.
In the deciding set, Wang Xiyu took the lead, and both sides did not hold on to their first service game at the beginning, breaking each other's serves. After that, the two sides held serve separately and entered the tie-break 6-6. In the tie-break, Wang Xiyu played even more strongly and won 7-2, thus winning the deciding set 7-6.
Full-court technical statistics (Wang Xinyu in front): ace 2-5, double fault 5-4, first serve success rate of 56%-64%, break success rate of 3-3, first serve scoring rate of 66%-72%, second serve scoring rate of 55%-50%.
Congratulations to Wang Xiyu for reaching the top 8 of the first leg of the new season. Led by last year's US Open champion Gauff, former US Open Raducanu, Grand Slam quarter-finalist Anisimova and former world No. 1 Wozniacki, the three players will play with wild cards. Tomorrow, teenager Yuan Yue will face No. 7 seed Martic in the quarterfinals. I wish the two golden flowers of China can make persistent efforts and go further!