China's 35-year-old veteran narrowly wins! Zhang Shuai ended his 24-game losing streak and advanced to the top 64 of the China Open, which fans said was not easy. In the first round of the women's singles of the WTA1000 China Open in 2024, China's 35-year-old veteran Zhang Shuai played against the United States player, the world's 65th Kessler, the two sides played very fiercely, playing two consecutive sets to tie-break, and finally Zhang Shuai won with a total score of 2-0, while advancing to the round of 64, it also ended the 24-game losing streak across the season.
The 35-year-old had already suffered 24 consecutive singles defeats across the season and dropped to No. 595 in the world rankings before this match, but in the doubles field, Zhang Shuai has been doing well recently, finishing runner-up in women's doubles at the US Open and Seoul, which seems to indicate that her form is also picking up. This year's China Open, Zhang Shuai sat at home, the first round against United States player Kessler, the first set, Zhang Shuai took the lead in serving, but due to his own mistakes more, Kessler completed the break as soon as he came up, and then successfully held serve in the second game, leading 2-0 in the game, in the 6th game, Zhang Shuai once got 3 break points, but continued to waste opportunities, Kester successfully held serve and continued to lead 4-2, in the 10th game, Kessler's serve won the set, this time Zhang Shuai seized the opportunity to complete the break, chasing the game to a 5-5 draw, and then the two held their own serves, the game was tied 6-6, the game entered the tie-break, when the small score was 3-3 draw, Zhang Shuai scored 3 points in a row, and then Zhang Shuai maintained the lead and won a set 7-5.
In the second set, Kester took the lead in serving, Zhang Shuai completed the break as soon as he came up, and then in the second game, Kessler withstood the pressure and completed the break, and then in the 4th game, the two sides held serve separately, and the game was tied at 3-3, in the 7th game, Zhang Shuai broke again, but Kessler quickly completed the break back in the 8th game, and in the 9th game, Zhang Shuai successfully broke after wasting two break points, and in the 10th game, Zhang Shuai's serve won the game and once got the match point, but then there was a mistake, Kessler seized the opportunity to force a break point and complete the break, The game was tied 5-5, and then 6-6, and once again entered the tiebreaker, this time Zhang Shuai led the whole process, winning another set 7-1, thus winning 2-0 on aggregate, successfully advancing to the second round, and ending a 24-game losing streak in singles. Zhang Shuai will next face No.6 seed Navarro.
With this victory, Zhang Shuai gained 35 points and $34,500 in prize money, and many fans also said that it was not easy after seeing Zhang Shuai's victory, because since defeating Brengel in Lyon in January 2023, Zhang Shuai has not won in the singles event of the tour for 20 months. This article was originally written by Xiao Lizi, please do not plagiarize or carry it.