Waste of a good draw? Wang Xinyu exits in the first round of both singles and doubles!

This week, multiple tournaments are underway, among which the WTA 500 event in Merida stands out as more prestigious. Chinese veteran Zhang Shuai cleared qualifying rounds smoothly and then eliminated veteran Lepchenko in the opening round, updating their head-to-head to 5 wins to 2 losses. With 85 points gained, Zhang’s live ranking has climbed to 69.

Next, Zhang Shuai will face the tournament’s second seed Navarro. Although Navarro’s world ranking is much higher, Zhang has previously beaten her twice, so we look forward to Zhang continuing her progress into the second round.

Meanwhile, at the WTA 250 tournament in Austin, Wang Xinyu, who showed promising form earlier this season, entered as the third seed in singles but was swept out in the first round by qualifier Masarova with a score of 6-3, 6-2.

It’s worth noting that after top seed Pegula withdrew from the event, the lower half featuring Jovic and the upper half with Wang Xinyu as the second and third seeds respectively had better chances of winning. Wang was also striving for her first singles title on the tour, but clearly, she failed to seize this opportunity.

In her opening match against Masarova, Wang appeared sluggish overall, failing to serve a single ace and committing as many as five double faults, with a first serve success rate below 50%. In contrast, Masarova controlled the pace from the baseline with steady rallies.

However, since there was no ranking point defense pressure this week, despite exiting in the first round at Austin, Wang Xinyu’s career-high ranking still improved to 30.

After her singles loss, Wang partnered again with familiar teammate Zheng Saisai in the doubles event, but they still couldn’t secure a win, losing 3-6, 4-6 to the pairing of Shleikhmeteva and Zakharova. Notably, Wang and Zheng saved four match points when trailing 1-5 in the second set but ultimately couldn’t turn the match around.

Currently, Zheng Saisai is ranked 96th in doubles, while Wang Xinyu holds the 111th spot. Their combined ranking is relatively low, so without a wildcard, their next collaboration is likely to be in the clay season (their Miami doubles quarterfinal points from last year will soon drop).

As a lucky loser, Yuan Yue has been full of surprises at this event. Originally eliminated in qualifying and out of the main draw, she got a chance to replace top seed Pegula after her withdrawal. Yuan battled through a tough three-set first-round win over Schrammova and then comfortably defeated Gauff 6-3, 6-2 in the second round to reach the quarterfinals.

This is Yuan Yue’s second time this season reaching a tour-level quarterfinal. She will face the winner between Zhalalova and Krug in the quarterfinals, and we hope Yuan continues to advance on this favorable ground!(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Barbie)