PARIS, May 31 (Xinhua) — China’s nineteenth seed Zheng Qinwen misplaced to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva in a grueling three-set match throughout the ladies’s singles second spherical of the French Open on Wednesday.
Putintseva, a two-time quarterfinalist at Roland Garros in 2016 and 2018, seized 4 consecutive video games within the decisive set after a 2-2 tie, clinching the victory 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
A staggering 49 unforced errors, in comparison with her opponent’s 19, scuppered Zheng’s hopes of progressing on the clay main. Last yr, she stormed into the spherical of 16 in her debut.
“Too many errors today, especially in the first set. I made it too easy for her,” admitted Zheng, who got here to Paris after a quarterfinal look in Rome. That success pushed her rating to a career-high nineteenth, additionally the present prime singles participant from China.
“She combined good long shots and drop shots, with which I was struggled and the court was small., so I didn’t get enough space behind to move back to hit the ball,” the 20-year-old added.
Zheng, who broke into the highest 100 in January 2022 after a run by way of qualifying to the second spherical on the Australian Open, has participated in six Grand Slam tournaments, reaching not less than the second spherical in every.
Her beautiful profession took off finally yr’s French Open, breaking into the highest 30 after advancing to the ultimate in Tokyo and securing the WTA Newcomer of the Year prize.
“I think the promotion in ranking is far away from I expected. I still think I could do much more better. Talking about the match today, I think I should have won, but I didn’t, which hurt me a lot,” Zheng confessed.
Next in line for Putintseva is Sloane Stephens of the United States, the previous US Open winner who eased into the final 32 with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over world No. 56 Anna Blinkova of Russia in simply an hour and 13 minutes.
Zheng’s compatriot Zhang Zhizhen, who made historical past on Monday by changing into the primary males’s participant from the Chinese mainland within the Open period to win a match on the clay-court Grand Slam, could not carry his victorious momentum into the doubles competitors.
The 26-year-old, partnered with Romanian Victor Vlad Cornea, was defeated by Germany’s eleventh seed Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz, 7-5, 6-4 within the males’s doubles first spherical.
In different matches, residence favourite Caroline Garcia, seeded fifth, was upset by world No. 56 Anna Blinkova of Russia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. American world No. 3 Jessica Pegula superior when Camila Giorgi of Italy retired after dropping the opening set.