Agency :
China’s top-ranked player Zhang Shuai was defeated 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) by France’s Caroline Garcia on Friday, putting an end to her singles journey at the Wimbledon Championships.
On the same day, China’s Han Xinyun and Zhu Lin were eliminated in the women’s doubles second round, while their fellow Chinese Yang Zhaoxuan suffered a first-round exit with her mixed doubles partner Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico.
Han and Zhu lost 6-1, 6-4 to the combination of American Asia Muhammad and Japanese Ena Shibahara, and Gonzalez and Yang were beaten 6-2, 7-5 by Matwe Middelkoop from the Netherlands and Ellen Perez from Australia.
Zhang Shuai took an early 2-0 lead in her third round singles match, but Garcia quickly overturned the court by winning three straight games and maintained her momentum to win the first set tiebreak.
In the second set, the two players held serve for the first twelve games, but in the deciding one, Garcia seized the opportunity and won the tiebreak 7-5.
“We provided Wimbledon with a brilliant match. I gave it my all, but today’s opponent is the better one, and she deserves the victory in the end,” Zhang commented after the match.
With the victory, Garcia extended her winning streak on grass to eight matches and reached the women’s singles last 16 of Wimbledon after five years.
