China's Bai Zhuoxuan clinched her maiden victory in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament during her Wimbledon opening match against Ysaline Bonaventure on Wednesday, surprising the Belgian with a 7-6 (0), 6-1 win in a rain-interrupted match.

Bai Zhuoxuan hits a return during the women's singles first round match between Bai Zhuoxuan of China and Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium at Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, Britain, July 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Li Ying)

The match, initially commenced on Tuesday, had to be suspended due to continuous rainfall, resuming with Bai in the lead, 4-0 in the second set.

Having ascended through the qualifications, 20-year-old Bai is making her Grand Slam debut, primarily participating in ITF events, with a solitary Tour-level appearance since 2020 before arriving at the All England Club.

Bai managed to rally from a 4-1 deficit to secure three consecutive games on Tuesday, equalising the first set at 4-4. She subsequently dominated the tiebreak, winning 7-0. The second set was entirely in Bai's favour as she surged to a 4-0 lead before the adverse weather impacted the pace of the match.

Despite the overnight interruption, Bai sustained her momentum, retaining her serve in the fifth game and concluding the match with a love game in the seventh.

Bai's forthcoming opponent will be last year's runner-up, Ons Jabeur from Tunisia.

Simultaneously, China's Zhang Shuai, a doubles finalist at last year's Wimbledon, endured her 12th consecutive singles loss at the Tour level, as she succumbed to the 20th seed Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3 in the opening match on Court 4.

Originally scheduled for Monday, the match was postponed twice. Vekic displayed greater precision at crucial junctures, winning four out of five break points and sealing the victory in one hour and 13 minutes. Zhang, 34, committed 23 unforced errors, while Vekic had only 13.

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