US OPEN: Zheng falls to Sabalenka again; Bopanna also ousted
NEW YORK, September 3: Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng lost to Aryna Sabalenka for the third time in a row, this time at the US Open quarterfinals, drawing curtains on Asia’s singles challenge at the last Grand Slam of the season.
Zheng struggled to contain unforced errors to suffer a rather tame 1-6 2-6 defeat against Sabalenka, who maintained her supremacy over the Chinese on Tuesday night.
The 21-year-old Zheng had lost to Sabalenka at this year’s Australian Open title clash and the same stage last year at the Flushing Meadows.
Zheng is yet to win a set against the powerful Sabalenka, who is gunning for her third singles Grand Slam title.
“She’s such an aggressive player. She’s playing such incredible tennis and it was very tough facing her,” Sabalenka said after the match.
Beginning aggressively, Zheng put Sabalenka under pressure in the very first game. Her screaming backhand winner suggested she was up for a fight but unforced errors let her down.
Sabalenka got the break on Zheng’s backhand error for a 2-0 lead in the opening set. Zheng held the fourth game at love to get on board. Consecutive forehand errors from Zheng in game six handed Sabalenka a commanding 5-1 lead. Sablaenka closed the opening set in her favour when Zheng made another unforced error.
Zheng was broken in the first game of the second set and soon Sablaenka was leading 3-1. She was broken again for Sabalenka to make it 4-1. Zheng saved one match point but could not return a powerful serve on the second, sending Sabalenka into the semifinals.
Shuai Zhang and her partner Kristina Mladenovic moved to the women’s doubles semifinals with a tough 7-6(2) 6-4 win over the fifth-seeded team of Australia’s Ellen Perez and American Nicole Melichar-Martinez.
Shuai Zhang and Hao-ChingChan (TPE) are the only Asians surviving in the US Open as Kazakshtan’s Anna Danilina made an exit from the women’s doubles with partner Irina Khromacheva.
They lost 6-7 (2) 4-6 to the seventh-seeded pair of Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR) and Jelena Ostapenko (LAT).
Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna and his Indonesian partner Aldila Sutjiadi lost 3-6 4-6 to the American pair of Donald Young and Taylor Townsend in the mixed doubles semifinals.
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