Strength in numbers? Not always so.

That's perhaps the main takeaway for Chinese tennis at this year's Australian Open with no one left standing after just the second round in Melbourne, where the country had celebrated a record total of 11 entries, including three men, in the singles main draws.

Wang Yafan in action in the game. [photo:xinhua]

Following three more losses in the women's draw on Thursday, Team China has hastily capped off its AO singles campaign much sooner, and with poorer results, than expected with the gap in experience and consistency between its best and the world's elite further exposed Down Under.

China's world No 108 Wang Xiyu could have advanced as a lone survivor, but a series of error-laden plays, apparently due to high-stakes pressure, saw her squander a 4-2 lead in the deciding set in her second-round clash on Thursday against 8th seed Emma Navarro, who eventually ousted the challenger 6-3, 3-6,6-4 to send the last Chinese player packing.

The result, considering the huge ranking gap between Wang and the world No 8, wasn't quite unexpected.

Yet it was the familiar mental meltdown, which has cost Wang dearly in many previous losses where she'd held the lead, that left fans and herself fuming at another chance wasted, knowing she has what it takes technically and physically to pull it off.

"It's normal to have ups and downs in this sport. I guess I just have to let it sink in, move on and look forward to the next one," said the 24-year-old left-hander, whose previous best at a major was a third-round appearance at the US Open in 2022.

After exchanging breaks with Navarro, a New York native, in the evenly-contested first two sets, Wang went out flying in the third by breaking first to take a 2-0 lead and built it into 4-2 with an imminent victory in sight as long as she managed to hold serve until the end.

The American favorite, however, stepped it up a notch that Wang failed to match as she staged a comeback by winning four games in a row to upset Wang in two hours and 11 minutes and set up a third-round clash against three-time major finalist Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.

"I was able to find something there at the end," Navarro said. "It was really tough the whole time. I knew it was going to be that way. I was ready to handle it. And I found some good tennis there at the end."

Standing 1.82-meter tall with a strong build, Wang's powerful game, featuring aggressive forehands, suggested a bright future on the professional circuit since she won her first and only WTA singles title in Guangzhou in 2023.

Her progression, however, slowed after a string of early-round exits on the circuit, mostly due to sudden loss of form at key moments, over the past year and a half, dragging her out of the top-100 from her career high No 49 in January 2023.

With two other women — No 64 Wang Yafan and veteran Zhang Shuai — also losing earlier on Thursday, all the Chinese players in the men's and women's singles draws have been eliminated before the third round at the Melbourne Park, tying three previous occasions (2006,2018 and 2021) to mark the country's worst collective outing at the season-opening Slam.

Boasting a supportive local Chinese community, geographic proximity to their home country and little time difference, the Aussie Open has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for Chinese players, who've reached at least the quarterfinal stage there six times with retired legend Li Na lifting the women's singles trophy in 2014.

As the oldest among all Chinese aces this year in Melbourne, Zhang, a 36-year-old two-time singles major quarterfinalist, encouraged her compatriots to walk away with their heads held up.

"I still feel proud of myself to be able to qualify for singles at the Grand Slam at my age and to win a match," Zhang said after losing to Kazakhstan's 24th seed Yulia Putintseva in straight sets in a singles second round match on Thursday.

"I think everyone should also leave with a positive mindset even we all crashed out in the second round," said Zhang, who's reached the round of 32 in women's doubles with French partner Kristina Mladenovic.

"Let's enjoy some fun in Melbourne, have some decent food and then move on."

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)