No one expected that China's former sister Wang Qiang would fall to an 18-year-old player, she is Shi Han, a little flower who has won 0 singles championships so far in her career. For Wang Qiang, the road to comeback is destined to be difficult. For Shi Han, this upset victory over Wang Qiang may make her famous.
A key battle in the quarterfinals of the Shenzhen W50, with 18-year-old Xiaohua Shi Han facing Wang Qiang. Shi Han is currently ranked 500th in the world, but she started playing for the ITF in 2019 when she was 13 years old. However, her best result so far in tennis was a runner-up finish at the W40 in Shenzhen last year, and this season, her best result is no more than the quarterfinals of Monastir's W15.
As for Wang Qiang, fans are all too familiar, having previously reached the top 8 of the US Open, and the highest world ranking has reached 12th. However, he took a break after the Tokyo race in September 2022 and did not officially return until this year. In the first game of Hua Hin 250 at the beginning of the season, she lost 0-2 to Wang Xiyu in the first round. After coming to Shenzhen, she finally regained her winning feeling and broke into the top 8 2-0 in two consecutive games. Considering the previous performances, almost no one would doubt that Wang Qiang will win this match and even advance to the semi-finals easily. But the result was not what everyone expected.
In the first set, Wang Qiang was as slow as in the previous round, and was broken by Shi Han in the third game, but she quickly broke back in the fourth game, and then won the first set 6-3 in one go.
In the second set, Wang Qiang took the lead in the first game with two double faults from Shi Han, but the latter began to exert his strength after that. The two broke each other in the first four innings. Perhaps because his physical strength has not fully recovered since he came back, Wang Qiang's performance has declined since then, and the two have drawn 6-6 and entered the tiebreaker. Wang Qiang took advantage of her experience and once led 6-5 and took the lead to get the match point. After that, Shi Han played fearlessly, scored consecutive points, and finally won 10-8. After winning the tie-break, Shi Han was very excited, and even soared into a dolphin sound.
In the deciding set, Shi Han showed his physical advantage, taking the lead in breaking serve in the first game, and after holding serve in the second game, he established a 2-0 advantage. In the 5th game, Shi Han grabbed Wang Qiang's 2 double faults, dropped 4 points in a row and broke serve again, and the score came to 4-1. After that, in the 7th and 8th games, Wang Qiang lost 8 points in a row. In the end, Wang Qiang lost the set 2-6, and the big score was reversed by Shi Han 1-2, and he had no choice but to stop in the top 8.
The battle took 2 hours and 53 minutes. Wang Qiang has 2 ACEs and 3 double faults, and Shi Han has 3 ACEs and 4 double faults. In terms of breaking efficiency, Shi Han broke 7 with 19, and Wang Qiang broke 6 with 15. Is Wang Qiang still expected to return to the TOP100?