Wuhan (China), Oct 13 (IANS) Wild card Guo Hanyu of China rallied to beat 12th-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania at the Wuhan Open WTA tennis tournament on Tuesday, while Asian Games champion Wang Xiyu was beaten by Wimbledon junior champion Mia Pohankova.
Guo, the Wimbledon doubles champion, progressed to the second round after a 1-6, 7-6(6), 7-5 victory against Cirstea, marking her first win over a top-20 player in her career, as well as her first victory in Wuhan’s main-draw singles match.
“It was a very tough match. Honestly, I never imagined I would win until the match was actually over,” Guo said. “Especially after losing the first set 1-6, I just wanted to stay on court a little longer and enjoy the feeling of playing on the centre court.”
“I didn’t expect my level to get better and better. Even when facing match point, I just told myself not to give the match away easily and to keep trying. I held on to that mindset, and I’m very happy I could win in the end.”
Guo will next play Katie Volynets of the United States, who ranks 88th in the world, reports Xinhua.
Wang dropped the opening set against the 17-year-old Pohankova despite clawing back from 0-3. Both players held serve to 6-6, and Pohankova took the tiebreak 7-2. The second set followed the same script to 6-6, but Wang erased a 2-5 deficit in the tiebreak to win it 9-7 and level the match.
Pohankova broke twice in the decider, raced to a 5-1 lead and converted her first match point on serve to close out the match in two hours and 55 minutes.
Elsewhere, Zhang Shuai struggled with illness in the match against Ashlyn Krueger of the United States before losing at 6-3, 6-0.
“It’s a pity to end my Wuhan singles campaign this way. To be honest, I was completely drained today. This was the best I could do,” Zhang said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do better given my condition, but I didn’t want to give up the chance to play in front of you, so I tried my best to finish the match.”
Zhang also expressed gratitude to local audiences. “I am so grateful for your love of tennis. It’s the passion of the people of Wuhan that has made Chinese tennis history,” she said. “From Li Ting’s women’s doubles gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, to Grand Slam champion Li Na, to Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, they all come from Hubei. It’s because of your love of the sport that tennis in Hubei is so strong.”
In other matches, Daria Snigur of Ukraine stunned 14th-seeded Elise Mertens 6-4, 7-5; Maria Sakkari of Greece came from behind to beat 8th-seeded Marta Kostyuk 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Ann Li of the United States progressed to the next round when Camila Osorio of Colombia retired while trailing 6-1, 3-0.
–IANS
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