Following Zhu Lin's exit in the first round of the women's singles in Rome, two more Jinhua suffered a round of defeat, namely Wang Yafan and Wang Xiyu, but fortunately, China's "first sister" Zheng Qinwen advanced to the third round in 11 consecutive games and avoided the embarrassment of consecutive defeats. In addition, the men's singles teenager Shang Juncheng advanced to the main draw as a lucky loser.
Wang Yafan's opponent in this round is Volynets of the United States. In the first set, Wang Yafan played proactively, fighting with his opponent all the way, but unfortunately missed 2 set points and lost; In the second set, Wang Yafan's competitive form continued to decline, and finally lost 6-7(6)/1-6 to Volynets, who had advanced from the qualifying round, and missed the first victory on clay in 2024. After gaining 3 points, Wang Yafan immediately ranked 66th.
Wang Xiyu faced Potapova, after losing 1-6 in the first set, she actively adjusted her state in the second set to take a 3-0 lead, but was helplessly caught by the opponent to catch the loophole, and then lost 5-7 to suffer a round of tours, which was also the third consecutive defeat of the clay season. Potapova will be the No. 9 seed Ostapenko in the next round. In addition, Wang Xiyu and Zhu Lin were both eliminated in the first round, so they continued to maintain a 65-point gap in Olympic points.
In this battle, Wang Xiyu exposed the weakness of slow footwork, as long as the opponent moved left and right, it was difficult for her to return the ball to position or make a direct mistake. According to technical statistics, Wang Xiyu has 2 aces and 5 double faults, with a first-serve scoring rate of 61%, a second-serve scoring rate of 35% and a break rate of 50%, all three of which are far behind the opponent's 81%, 67% and 80%.
Compared with the defeat of other women's singles, the first sister Zheng Qinwen can be said to have regained her long-lost strength, facing the American player Rogers, she advanced to the third round with 11 consecutive games, the score is 6-2/6-0, and the next round opponent is Noskova, the two sides have played once in the 60K match in 21 years, and Zheng Qinwen won the victory. But whether it is Zheng Qinwen or Noskova, they have made great progress after 3 years of hard work, I wonder if Zheng Qinwen can still have the last laugh?
Since finishing runner-up at the Australian Open, Zheng Qinwen's form has declined, especially in the Sunshine Doubles, where he only earned 75 points. Fortunately, after adjustment, Zheng Qinwen's form began to pick up in the clay season. If Zheng Qinwen can defeat Noskova in the next round, he may face Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, and if he can go further, he is expected to challenge Gauff, provided that all three of them win and there are no upsets.
On the men's side, despite losing in the second qualifying round, Shang Juncheng still got the chance to play in the main draw of the Rome Masters and also enjoyed a first-round bye due to the withdrawal of No. 13 seed Amber, Shang Juncheng entered as a lucky loser, and also got the No. 13 seed sign, and in the second round he will face the winner between Napolitano and Wolfe. If he can make it past the second round, Shang Juncheng's world ranking will reach the top 100 in the world.