Three minutes a day, knowing about tennis in the world. Hello fans and friends, today is Wednesday, January 15, 2025, and welcome to listen to the afternoon newsletter brought to you by "Home of Tennis".

This morning, Beijing time, the fourth match day of the 2025 Australian Open tennis season began. In a key matchup near noon, China's first sister Zheng Qinwen was in poor form, losing 6-7(3) 3-6 to German veteran Sigmund and missing the third round, becoming the first top eight seeds in the women's singles to be eliminated from the Australian Open.

In the fourth game of the second set, Zheng Qinwen was penalized by the referee for overtime at 1-2 (15-30) (he had been warned once), Zheng Qinwen argued with the referee and burst into tears on the spot. This undoubtedly affected her serve rhythm, and she was eventually broken by a double fault. After that, Xiao Zheng's emotions have not been adjusted, his mistakes have not decreased, and he is unable to break back, so he can only watch his opponent advance to the top 32. After losing the second round, Zheng Qinwen almost lost 1,300 points from last year's runner-up, and the world ranking will slip after the Australian Open.

After the match, at the press conference, Zheng Qinwen said that she had some physical problems after the year-end finals, it was an elbow problem, and her team had advised her not to participate in the Australian Open, but she insisted on it, after all, it was a Grand Slam event, so she came on the court with a slight pain. Regarding the loss, Zheng Qinwen believed, "I had a problem with my hitting choice at a critical moment today. The main thing is that the on-the-spot performance is not good. I also realised that having a problem with my elbow and being physically unwell did affect my performance and the time and intensity of my training. Now it's better to take care of your body first. Because I don't have a good body, I still can't play a complete tennis ball. ”

Elsewhere in the second round: Defending champion Sabalenka beats Spaniard Maneiro 6-3 7-5; Pegula of the United States eliminated Belgian Mertens 6-4 6-2; Danish rising star Towson swept past German T-Maria 6-2 6-2; Switzerland's Bencic eliminated Dutchman Lamens 6-1 7-6(3); Poland's Fletcher scored a dramatic 0-6 6-0 6-2 victory over Russian Blinkova.

Let's take a closer look at the results from yesterday afternoon to evening. In the remaining matches of the first round of the Men's Singles, ninth seed Rublev of Russia was beaten by Brazilian star Fonseca, ranked 112th in the world, and the pair battled it out in three sets and two tie-breaks before Fonseca won straight sets 7-6(1) 6-3 7-6(5). Rublev also became the second top-10 seed to go out after Dimitrov.

Another Russian star, Dmitry Medvedev, faced a tough battle in the first round. Facing Thailand's wild card player Samri, Mr. Mei once fell behind 1-2 in the set, and his emotions were out of control for a while, and after the mistake, he smashed the net belt with his racket, not only smashing his own racket, but also smashing the camera on the net bag. Although Mei won in five sets, 6-2 4-6 3-6 6-1 6-2, he was in danger of being punished by the Australian Open authorities.

Other first-round winners were Shapovalov, Busta, Monfils, Sonego, Shelton, Musetti, Fritz, De Minaur, Hurkacz, Khachanov, Mutai, F. Cerundoro, Echeverri, Atmaier, Berrettini, Diallo, Acosta, Garin, Giron, Kecmanovic, Kruger and Lerner Money.

Women's Singles: Chinese veteran Zhang Shuai defeated last week's Hobart champion American Kessler 6-3 6-4 to win her first Grand Slam singles win in two years, her 40th career Grand Slam main draw victory. In the second round, she will face 24th seed Kazakhstan's Putintseva.

Chinese teenager Wei Sijia, who broke through from the qualifying round, lost 0-6 4-6 to No.4 seed and Italian steel cannon Paulini, missing out on her first Grand Slam main draw victory.

Others: Kazakhstan's Rybakina beat local teenager Jones 6-1 6-1 to advance. Colombian Osorio eliminated Greek sister Sakkari 6-4 6-7(4) 6-4.

Jovic, Kovinic, Jastremska, Case, Ruse, Maya, Erica Andreeva, Kudermetova, Usain Bolt, Zarazua, Navarro, Jabbar, Lis, Gracheva and others also beat their respective opponents to advance to the second round.

In addition, in the latest Australian Open mixed doubles draw, China's No. 1 brother Zhang Zhizhen and Czech Siniakova teamed up, and veteran Zhang Shuai partnered with Indian player Popana.

Finally, let's guess and recognize. The picture below shows two doubles players in a match. Without prompting, can you recognize who their sisters are?

In the last guess, the golfer gave the correct answer. That's right, the person in the picture is the American star Kenin.

(Source: Tennis Home Author: Maverick)