Melbourne, January 23 (Xinhua) -- On the 23rd, in the women's doubles match of the 2020 Australian Open, China's "Golden Flower" Zhang Shuai/Peng Shuai lost to Russia's Wei Kudmetova and the United States' Alison Rysk, regrettably stopping the first round.
Zhang Shuai (left) / Peng Shuai exchanged views during the match on January 23. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Bai Xuefei
In the first set, Zhang Shuai and Peng Shuai were broken by the opponent in the third set, followed by Kudmetova and Lisk to save the serve, and in the fifth set again broke the Chinese "Golden Flower", the score gap opened to 4:1. After the two sides saved their own serves, facing the first set that could be lost at any time, China Jinhua broke the opponent in the eighth set and chased the score to 3:5. In the ninth set, the two sides began a tug-of-war, and after three draws, Kudmetova/Lisk still won the first set 6:3.
In the second set, the U.S.-Russia duo took the lead in the fourth set and took the lead 3:1. Neither side had a good chance to break after that, and Zhang Shuai/Peng Shuai lost the second set again 3:6.
"I think today these two opponents are very strong individually, the ball quality is very high, and the play is also very good, from the serve, the serve to the bottom line, they all suppress us. Our advantage is that the bottom line is very good, but it is still suppressed, so although we tried our best for every point, we still lost points in a row, and there are still many areas that need to be improved. Zhang Shuai said after the game.
Risk (left) / Kudmetova celebrates scoring in the game on Jan. 23. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Bai Xuefei
Although Zhang Shuai and Peng Shuai are both Grand Slam women's doubles winners, the last time the two paired a Grand Slam was the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2016. Before reaching this year's Australian Open, the duo also played in the WTA Shenzhen Open and Hobart International earlier this month, but the results were not ideal.
"Frankly speaking, there are many problems in the technical and tactical aspects, we did not have the technical and tactical clarity and tacit understanding as everyone expected, but we really tried to cooperate and fight." Peng Shuai said.
For the next plan of this year, the two players said that they will continue to train hard first, and whether they can play together in the Tokyo Olympic Games depends on the follow-up situation.
Zhang Shuai/Peng Shuai (right) celebrate scoring in a match on January 23. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Bai Xuefei
Although the doubles failed to break through, Zhang Shuai will also face the 14th seed Knin on the 24th. "I hope to play the training stuff first tomorrow." Zhang Shuai said.
In addition, another Chinese duo, Han Xinyun/Zhu Lin, easily advanced to the second round due to their withdrawal from the match against Ukraine's Nadia Kichenok and India's Sania Mirza.
The women's doubles matches between Duan Yingying/Zheng Saisai and Wang Yafan/Brinkova were postponed due to rain on the same day.
Text Editor: Ji Ye
Issued: Peng Dong
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