The Tour and Challenge Tournament ushered in China Day, and Zhang Shuai reached the semi-finals with seven ties, which was admirable

As we all know, due to the different world rankings, the level of the event in which Chinese players compete is also different. For example, when Zheng Qinwen and Yuan Yue competed on the tour this week, players such as Gao Xinyu and Guo Hanyu could only compete in the Challenge. And Zhang Shuai, a veteran, was unable to maintain his lead in the first set of the WTA 500 Queen's Cup qualifying round when he won the first set, and was reversed by his opponent and unfortunately eliminated, so he could only compete in the doubles arena. Yesterday, however, the Chinese players maintained their momentum and won one after another, with Zheng Qinwen and Yuan Yue ushering in new career breakthroughs. So, what's going on here? Let this article take you to a look.

Despite winning his first career Grand Slam victory at the 2022 Australian Open, Zheng Qinwen's record on grass court was not as good as he could have been. She has now exited the first round of Wimbledon for the second year in a row. Even in the year he reached the round of 32 at Wimbledon, he was not able to score any points, so Zheng Qinwen did not score many points on grass court in his career. Now, despite being ranked in the top 5 in the world, the outside world is still not optimistic about her chances of winning the championship on grass.

Yesterday, Zheng Qinwen was challenged by American Kessler in the second round of the WTA 500 Queen's Cup. The player showed that he has a certain quality by beating British wild card Fernandes Jones in the first round. In this match, Zheng Qinwen was dragged into the deciding set by his opponent after taking the next set. In the deciding set, Zheng Qinwen once fell behind by a large score. Fortunately, she adjusted her form in time to tie the score, and then exceeded it, and finally won the victory. After a hard-fought victory, Zheng Qinwen reached the quarterfinals of the grass court tournament for the first time in his career.

Due to her low world ranking, Yuan Yue can only start at the WTA 250 's-Hertogenbosch Open qualifiers. Unfortunately, in the final round of qualifying, she lost to Canada's Branstin. However, due to the withdrawal of the high-ranking player, Yuan Yue was able to enter the main draw of the WTA 250 's-Hertogenbosch Open as a lucky loser. In the first round, she defeated Latvia's Sevastova to end an embarrassing record of nine consecutive defeats in the main draw of the tour; In the second round, facing the Australian player Birrell, who had defeated him at the WTA 250 Austin Open, Yuan Yue did not give her opponent any chance and defeated her opponent completely, reaching the quarterfinals of the grass court for the first time in her career in the 2025 season.

Gao Xinyu, who performed well in the United Cup at the beginning of the year, will play in the Valencia Challenger this week as the sixth seed. In the first round, she defeated Russia's Korneyeva in three sets and advanced with difficulty; In the second round, Gao Xinyu sent a duck egg to defeat Cyprus's Sherban, and while reaching the quarterfinals, she won the best record in nearly four months.

Guo Hanyu, who won the World University Games championship, competed in the Czech Republic Lipa Challenge as the seventh seed of the tournament. In the first round, she defeated North Macedonia's Gochocheska in straight sets; In the second round, facing the challenge of Dutch player Kim Breel, Guo Hanyu showed no mercy and won in two sets to reach the quarterfinals. As a result, all four players reached the quarterfinals in singles.

After talking about the situation of singles players, let's talk about Zhang Shuai. She teamed up with Australia's Al Perez and won the first round with two tie-breaks. In the second round, Zhang Shuai's opponents were Brazil's Stefani and Hungary's Babos, and they also won through two tie-breaks. Zhang Shuai, who tried his best to win four tie-breaks and reached the semi-finals, is worthy of admiration. Next, Yuan Yue, Zheng Qinwen, Gao Xinyu, Guo Hanyu, and Zhang Shuai can continue to move forward, let's wait and see. That's it for today, and it will continue tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin Jushi)