The China Open started disastrously for Chinese tennis, but with Zhang Shuai playing today, there is hope to reverse the downward trend.

After the China Open began with the qualifying rounds, the sizable group of ten Chinese tennis players all surprisingly lost in the first round, with no one breaking through to claim an initial win, causing a stir among observers!

It is commonly said that the opening of the Chinese season offers rare opportunities for lower-ranked Chinese players to appear on the tour, and this year that notion has been widely acknowledged by the public.

Setting aside the main draw wildcards, the China Open allocated all nine qualifying wildcards directly to Chinese players, demonstrating a special preference for local talent. As a result, the Chinese contingent in the qualifying rounds was quite large, with six women and four men, giving an impression of a formidable force.

According to China’s top player Bu Yunchaokete, the start of the Chinese season offers chances to face top opponents, and although there is pressure, everyone is very enthusiastic and ready to show their skills, making their first-round performances highly anticipated.

However, after the ten singles qualifying matches concluded, none advanced to the second round; all were eliminated in the first round, leading fans and netizens to sadly ask, “Are you surprised or not?”

In the women's singles qualifying draw, seeing Li Zongyu facing Jimenez; Jiang Xinyu challenging Uchijima Moka; Shao Yushan against Arango; and Zhu Chenting competing with Bondar, everyone thought these four Chinese girls faced very tough opponents, making it difficult to advance. But Ren Yufei against Carle and Yao Xinxin versus Gran, although also challenging, still had some hope if they fought hard.

Unexpectedly, after the first player was eliminated in the opening round, the other Chinese girls seemed to be collectively affected, dropping out one after another like dumplings falling into boiling water. The scale was both spectacular and tragic, greatly shocking the outside world.

Although the Chinese girls in this qualifying round were generally weaker, with no real distinction between good or bad draws for them, the fact that five of them lost in straight sets is still hard to accept.

Among the six eliminated girls, Yao Xinxin performed the best; she was the only one to take a set from her opponent Gran before losing.

When the qualifying wildcards were initially given to these young players, many said they needed chances to gain experience, but after all matches concluded, some remarked that such results provided no real training opportunity and were a complete waste of the wildcards.

Once the women's singles qualifying first round ended with no Chinese players remaining, the Chinese men’s players became everyone’s greatest hope.

Among Zhou Yi, Sun Fajing, Wang Aoran, and Hong Kong’s Huang Zelin, Zhou Yi and Huang Zelin were the most favored. Before the matches, many openly doubted whether Sun Fajing and Wang Aoran could get past the first qualifying round, but were confident that Zhou Yi and Huang Zelin would at least win one match.

However, when the draw was revealed, many gasped. Zhou Yi faced Goffin in the first round, clearly increasing his difficulty; Huang Zelin met Kazo, who seemed unknown but as the seventh seed was obviously a tough opponent.

After Sun Fajing and Wang Aoran were swept away in straight sets, fans still hoped Zhou Yi and Huang Zelin could create surprises, especially the Hong Kong player Huang Zelin.

Before Zhou Yi’s match against Goffin, many predicted he might be swept in two sets, but he pushed the former top-ten player to three sets before losing, greatly exceeding expectations. The scores of 4-6, 6-3, and 5-7 show Zhou Yi gave his all but lacked experience; even with his youth advantage, he couldn’t match Goffin’s skill, so the loss was understandable.

After Zhou Yi’s exit, Huang Zelin became the last hope of the entire group.

In the match against Kazo, after Huang took the first set 6-4, many watching the live stream believed this Hong Kong player would not disappoint their expectations.

Even though Kazo leveled the match by winning the second set 6-2, no one doubted Huang Zelin’s ability to perform well in the decisive set.

Surprisingly, luck was not on Huang Zelin’s side in the final tiebreak. After losing the tiebreak and being overturned by Kazo, the entire large Chinese qualifying squad was eliminated in the first round. Fans and netizens described this as a grand, imposing entrance crushed mercilessly by the foreign players’ storm, marking a catastrophic start for Chinese tennis at this China Open—an extremely rare situation.

The opening victory that the ten Chinese qualifiers failed to achieve is now pinned on veteran Zhang Shuai today.

Today, three Chinese women will take the court: world No. 312 Shi Han faces world No. 39 Kessler; world No. 836 Zhang Ruiyan plays world No. 66 Lis; and Zhang Shuai competes against Zakharova.

Among the three, Zhang Shuai is widely favored, as her home-court advantage and rich experience in major tournaments give her a better chance against this qualifier, making her the likely first to secure a win for Chinese tennis. Zhang Shuai’s match is scheduled for 3:30 PM; Shi Han will start earlier at 11 AM, and Zhang Ruiyan will follow at 2 PM.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Moon River’s Starry Sky)