US OPEN: Zheng pips Vekic again to stay in title hunt; Wang exits
NEW YORK, September 1: China’s world number seven Qinwen Zheng prevailed in an intense battle against Croatia’s Donna Vekic in a re-match of Paris Olympic final to breeze into the US open quarterfinals on Sunday night but her compatriot Yafan Wang’s run ended with the fourth round defeat against Paula Badosa .
The Olympic champion won 7-6 (2) 4-6 6-2 against the world number 24 in a gruelling women’s singles fourth round that lasted two hours and 50 minutes while Wang went down fighting 1-6 2-6 in her fourth round against the Spanish 26th seed.
With this win, Zheng remains on course to make her second Major final of the 2024 season, having ended a runner-up at the Australian Open.
The first break opportunity came Zheng’s way in the sixth game of the opening set but Vekic served big to avert the danger. Both players served big to somewhat block each other’s big forehand.
Vekic found a stunning backhand winner to create a little opening in game ninth, making it 30-all but Zheng responded with a drive volley winner, and held the serve.
The set stayed on serve and a tie-break followed in which the Chinese player raced to a 4-1 lead with a mini break. Zheng closed the opening set in her favour when Vekic netted a forehand return on set point.
In the second set, Zheng was first to blink, allowing Vekic lead 2-0 but she had a chance to break back immediately and cashed in on to bring it back on serve.
Zheng was down by another break point in the sixth game but saved the chance. Neither player dropped intensity. Vekic got a chance to close the second set in game 10 but buried her forehand on net on the first break point.
Zheng saved the second set-point with some sold returns, finishing the point with an overhead smash. Vekic created another chance with a well-calculated drop shot and finally converted with a forehand winner.
The 21-year-old Zheng got the kind of start she needed in the decider as she broke Vekic in the opening game. She created the chance with a cross-court forehand that the Croatian could not return. Vekic netted the return on break chance.
Zheng did not look back after that early break. Vekic was broken at love in game seven, allowing the Chinese player to serve out the match.
In the other fourth-round, after dropping her serve in the second game, Wang had a chance to get the break back when she earned a breakpoint in the next game with a ferocious forehand that Badosa could not return but could not make the most of the chance.
A forehand unforced error put Wang down by a break point and followed that up with a shot that she hit wide to fall behind 0-4. Badosa’s powerful returns never did not let Wang settle. She tried a few high balls but nothing worked. The opening set was over in no time.
Wang finally got on board when she served at love, closing the sixth game with an ace. The Spanish player picked the set with a stunning backhand winner, taking advantage of Wang’s restricted movement.
The second was no different even as Wang did fight harder.
DOUBLES
=========
Shuai Zhang (CHN) and Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) sealed their place in the women’s doubles quarterfinals with a 6-2 6-4 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Mirra Andreeva.
However, the Australian Open champions Rohan Bopanna (IND) and Matthew Ebden (AUS) lost 1-6 5-7 to the 16th seed Argentine combo of Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni in 66 minutes.
Also making an exit was Yuki Bhambri (IND) and his French partner Albano Olivetti, who lost 2-6 2-6 to top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacia Zeballos in the round of 16.
Comments are closed.