On February 24, local time, the 2025 WTA Austin station kicked off, and the defending champion of the women's singles tournament, Yuan Yue, started her journey to defend her title on the first day, and finally she defeated Australian player Birrell 6-7 (5) / 6-7 (5) in two sets and eliminated the first match.

Yuan Yue's data map

Last year, Yuan Yue played well in this tournament, defeating A. Rodionova, Townsend Thompson, Wang Yafan, and Schmiedlova all the way to the final, and defeated Wang Xiyu in the derby to win the first singles title of his career WTA Tour.

In this match, Yuan Yue struggled, in the first set she was 2-5 down to drag the match into a tie-break, but after the small score was tied at 5-5, she lost two points in a row to give up the first set 6-7 (5). In the second set, Yuan Yue took the lead 3-0, but the fluctuation of form made the break advantage fleeting, and after breaking her opponent's serve to win the game and take the match into a tie-break again, she lost another set 6-7(5), unfortunately ending her title defense and swallowing a sixth straight defeat in the singles of the tour.

Yuan Yue had said before the race that winning last year was her best memory, and she returned to Austin to look forward to finding her best form, but after losing the points for the championship of this race, her instant ranking has dropped to No.68. Yuan Yue will next compete in the North American Sunshine Doubles, and the 215 points from last year's quarterfinals in Indian Wells are about to be deducted, and she urgently needs to fight for points to stop the decline in the rankings.

(Text, editor: Dato, photo: Visual China)