National Games: Zhu Lin defeats Wang Xinyu, Gao Xinyu overcomes Yang Yidi

On November 19th, the singles semifinals of the 15th National Games tennis competition took place at the Hengqin International Tennis Center, determining the finalists for the women's singles event. Zhu Lin from Anhui and Gao Xinyu from Beijing each triumphed over their opponents and will compete for the gold medal tomorrow, while Wang Xinyu from Guangdong and Yang Yidi from Tianjin secured the bronze medals.

Zhu Lin

The first women's singles semifinal featured the top-seeded local player Wang Xinyu against Zhu Lin. The two had met three times before on the tour, with Zhu Lin winning all encounters. Wang Xinyu had endured nearly five hours of singles and doubles matches yesterday and was not at her best today, while Zhu Lin’s solid baseline play posed significant challenges. After 1 hour and 15 minutes of competition, Zhu Lin defeated Wang Xinyu 6-3, 6-2, advancing to her first National Games singles final; Wang Xinyu earned the bronze medal and will also compete in the women's doubles final later.

As a veteran of five National Games, Zhu Lin had won bronze in women's singles in the past two editions and this year she finally made a breakthrough by advancing further. After the match, she said, “I believe that playing domestically feels like a home court advantage for Chinese players. I know Xinyu has had a very tough week with daily singles and doubles matches. Today’s match was very evenly matched, and it mainly came down to performance on the day.”

“I’m happy that I kept my position very low and approached the match with the mindset of a challenger. I think I performed very well today. I’m also glad to have the chance to change the medal color for Anhui. Let’s look forward to tomorrow’s match.”

Gao Xinyu

The second semifinal was contested between Gao Xinyu of Beijing and Yang Yidi of Tianjin. Gao had caused an upset in the previous round by defeating Guangdong’s second seed Yuan Yue, while Yang had won four consecutive matches to reach the semifinals. Both players engaged in intense baseline rallies; Gao won the first set 6-3 after 69 minutes, and after a grueling 43-minute second set, she secured the match with a 6-4 win.

After the match, Gao Xinyu mentioned that she had previously played in the Australian Open wildcard tournament at Hengqin, making this her second or third time competing here. “I really appreciate everyone coming out to support us despite the strong wind today. Hope to see you all tomorrow.” Regarding the final, she said she has no high expectations, “Because I know I will be facing Zhu Lin, I want to lower my stance and fight hard. For both of us, this happens only once every four years. I believe tomorrow will be very exciting.”

In 2021, at the 14th National Games, the women's singles tennis gold medal was claimed by Wang Qiang of Tianjin, with her teammate Zheng Saisai taking silver, and Zhu Lin from Anhui and Wang Yafan from Sichuan earning bronze. The tennis events of this National Games will conclude tomorrow; let us all look forward to who will claim the gold medal glory!

(Text and editing by: Dato; image source: official information from the 15th National Games)