Wang Xiyu lost to Sierra de la in the French Open qualifying tournament and missed the main event, and the Chinese Legion French Open qualifying tournament was wiped out

In the just-concluded French Open women's singles qualifying round of the decisive round, China's golden flower Wang Xiyu lost 3-6 2-6 to the ninth seed in the qualifying tournament Sheila, unfortunately stopped in the French Open women's singles qualifying round, and failed to break into the French Open women's singles main draw for two consecutive years. The defeat not only put her instant world rankings at risk of slipping further, but also wiped out the Chinese team in this year's French Open qualifiers, leaving no one to make it to the main draw.

After slowly relieving the wrist injury at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, Wang Xiyu found her form in this year's French Open qualifiers, winning two consecutive victories to reach the decisive round. Judging from all aspects of performance, although there are still fluctuations in psychology and technique, with the recovery of Chinese Jinhua's physical ability, they can already play a certain dominance in the game. The opponent in this round, the No. 9 seed Sheira, is strong, not only ranking more than 20 places higher than China's Jinhua, but also has a terrible record of 20-4 on clay in the 2025 season, and the three titles in the 2025 season are all from clay courts, which also makes many fans sweat for Wang Xiyu.

Once the match began, Wang Xiyu tried to overpower her opponent and take control of the match, but Sheila was clearly more familiar with the characteristics of clay courts, and she used her solid baseline and precise landing to defuse the Chinese Jinhua's attack in four pounds for eight. In the crucial mid-game period, Wang's serve fluctuated, and Sierra repeatedly used a backhand diagonal to hit the ball at a wide angle, forcing Wang Xiyu to return the ball in a hurry on the run, causing a surge in unforced errors, and then successfully broke serve and established a 4-2 lead. At the end of the set, Wang Xiyu made consecutive double faults on key points, and finally handed over the first set 3-6.

Wang Xiyu's form in the second set still did not improve significantly, and the quality of her serve continued to be sluggish, while Sierra continued to stick to her tactics, not only frequently attacking Wang's backhand, but also trying to suppress the Chinese Jinhua from the return serve, and frequently disrupting the rhythm of her shots by shortening the ball. In the case of the abdomen and back enemy, Wang Xiyu made a series of mistakes, although she once forced a break opportunity in the second game, but Sheila was unmoved at the critical moment and resolved the crisis with a beautiful high-pressure ball. After that, Wang Xiyu's error rate further climbed, and his backhand hit the net or out of bounds many times, and finally lost another set 2-6, losing 0-2 on aggregate.

Looking back on the whole game, although Wang Xiyu clearly had an advantage in strength, Sheila's four-to-two style of play allowed her to perfectly control the error rate while also making the Chinese Jinhua more and more aggressive. Technical statistics show that Wang Xiyu scored 12 winning points in the whole game, while Sierra had 15, and although the two were basically equal on this statistic, Wang Xiyu was as high as 32 unforced errors, far exceeding his opponent's 18. It is worth mentioning that in terms of break point conversion rate, Wang Xiyu only cashed in one of the four break points, while Sierra efficiently grasped three of the four break opportunities. In addition, Wang Xiyu's service form is worrying, and the second-serve scoring rate is as low as 38%, which has become a key factor in the continuous pressure of the opponent.

In this regard, some netizens said, "Wang Xiyu's technical framework has been formed, but the singleness of its technical details and tactics restricts her upper limit." If you can't break through the psychological barrier, it is difficult to say that you are among the top ranks. Another netizen said, "Personally, I think that her hitting choice is too single, which leads to the opponent's ability to make targeted defenses very easily once they figure out her hitting routine." In the future, it is necessary to strengthen the ability to change lines in multi-shot holding. Some netizens also believed, "The intensity of the marathon game encountered before dragged down Wang Xiyu's physical fitness and concentration, which led to a significant decrease in her concentration in the second half of the second set, and the quality of her hitting also decreased significantly, showing the lack of physical management and control of the rhythm of the game." ”

As a talented girl among the Chinese golden flowers who had high hopes in the past, although she missed the main draw of the French Open, Wang Xiyu still has a chance to move up the rankings through the upcoming grass court season, and the fast pace on grass may be more suitable for her attacking style of play. After the match, she also said that she would conduct special training for the problems exposed in this game, and would focus on strengthening the stability of the serve and the flexibility of tactics in the future. I hope that this "talented girl" who is expected by fans and has high hopes can break through the bottleneck as soon as possible and realize her talent.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Lu Xiaotian)