The 2024 China Open entered the third match day, and in a key match this morning, Chinese veteran Zhang Shuai faced United States' Navarro, who defeated Kessler 2-0 in the last game, ending his 24-game losing streak, and Navarro will also compete with Zheng Qinwen and other players for qualification for the year-end finals, this game he cannot afford to lose.
Navarro's popularity in China is still not low, because she and Zheng Qinwen formed a bond at the Olympic Games, and expressed dissatisfaction with Zheng Qinwen on many occasions, but it seems that she can't say anything.
Such a cautious approach has also made many fans dissatisfied with her, and today Zhang Shuai played Navarro at home, and the fans who came to the scene also expected Zhang Shuai to break out again and make the United States shut her mouth.
However, in the first set, Zhang Shuai was broken by her opponent in the service game, but in the third game she completed the break back and chased the score to 1-2, and then Zhang Shuai played more and more bravely, winning 3 games in a row to overtake the score to 4-2.
Navarro's mentality fluctuated a little, coupled with Zhang Shuai's home advantage, Navarro was a little confused, but fortunately, as the world No. 8, she adjusted her state in time and won 2 games in a row to chase the score to 4-4!
But in the 9th game, Zhang Shuai withstood the pressure and completed the break again, and in the 10th game of the service game, she scored 4 points in a row to send a love game, and the first set was fixed at 6-4!
In the second set, Zhang Shuai's confidence was bursting, and she won both against the world No. 8, and the 35-year-old veteran became more and more relaxed and gradually gained the upper hand on the court.
In the crucial fourth game, Navarro scored three points in a row to get three break points, but Zhang Shuai used his serve to chase points in a row and get multiple game points, and finally successfully cashed in on the third game point, and completed the thrilling hold.
After that, Navarro was obviously affected by the previous game, she made consecutive mistakes, giving Zhang Shuai the opportunity to score easily, and won 2 games in a row to stretch the score to 4-2!
In the crucial 7th game, Navarro seemed to have gone over, Zhang Shuai scored 4 points in a row to complete the break, and also seized the opportunity on the second match point in his service game, won another set 6-2, swept Navarro 2-0, and advanced to the round of 32.
It has to be said that Zhang Shuai's opponent who won this game has nothing to say, her performance can be called perfect, and this is also the ninth time in her career that she has defeated the world's top 10, not only getting 65 tournament points, but also earning $59,100.
After the game, Zhang Shuai was also very excited, she thanked the fans who have been supporting and believing in her, she said that she still has dreams, and encouraged everyone to chase them if they have dreams, don't be bound by age, such Zhang Shuai is really inspiring, in her blessed land in the open competition, she is really likely to go further.
And Zhang Shuai's victory in this game is also indirectly to help Zheng Qinwen a favor, because Navarro only got 10 points in this game, and the point gap between her and Zheng Qinwen may be greatly narrowed after this game, if Zheng Qinwen can finally win the championship, she will also surpass Navarro in the championship ranking. I have to say that Zhang Shuai's victory is really too timely, and it can be regarded as a multi-task!