Zhang Zhizhen of China in action during a men's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, England, July 3, 2024. /CFP
China's Zhang Zhizhen missed three set points in the fourth set and fell to Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(1), 7-6(10-8) in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships on Wednesday.
Zhang reached his first ATP Tour-level semifinal on grass at the Halle Open in Germany two weeks ago, before becoming the first man from the Chinese mainland to be seeded at any major. The 32nd seed took the first set 7-5.
After beating Maxime Janvier in straight sets to reach the second round, Zhang became the first man from Chinese mainland to win at least one main draw match at all four Grand Slams. But Struff, who lifted his maiden ATP trophy this year in Munich, claimed the second set 6-3.
The third set went into a tiebreaker, which the 34-year-old German dominated 7-1.
The fourth set needed a tiebreaker as well.
And that's when the curtain came down on Zhang, who has joined Chinese Taipei's Lu Yen-hsun as the highest-ranked Chinese male players to have risen as high as World No. 33.
Struff fended off three set points to wrap up the tiebreaker 10-8 and reach the third round at the All England Club for the third time. Next up for him is fifth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Zhu Lin of China in action during a women's singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, England, July 3, 2024. /CFP
On the women's side, China's Zhu Lin reached the round of 32 for the first time in London by beating 25th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3 in straight sets.
Zhu cruised past Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-0, 6-4 in the first round after taking the first eight games. The World No. 61 advanced to the second round for the second time in her career after 2021.
Having been out of action since May 2022 with a knee injury, Pavlyuchenkova returned to action in early 2023 at Adelaide.
The Russian had multiple unforced errors in the first set, which Zhu took 6-4.
The Chinese maintained her momentum and claimed the second set 6-3 to advance to the third round in women's singles at Wimbledon for the first time in her career.
Zhu will next take on New Zealand qualifier Lulu Sun, who upset China's top player, eighth seed Zheng Qinwen, in the first round.
"I'm more relaxed today, even though the match was delayed due to rain. I also studied my opponent, who has done well throughout the years," Zhu said. "She has been in the top 20 or 30 over these years and made it into the finals at Grand Slams. So I knew today's match wouldn't be easy, and that I needed to be fully prepared."
Zhang Shuai (front) of China and Miyu Kato of Japan in action during a women's doubles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, England, July 3, 2024. /CFP
In women's doubles action, Chinese veteran and two-time Grand Slam doubles champion Zhang Shuai and her partner Miyu Kato of Japan overcame Italy's Angelica Moratelli and Argentina's Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 7-6(2) to advance to the second round.
The 35-year-old Zhang and 29-year-old Kato were the runner-ups at the WTA 250 event in Birmingham. That run helped them develop chemistry and they took the first set of their Wimbledon opener 6-2.
The second was much closer, as they fell behind Moratelli and Podoroska, before battling back to catch up later in the set and force a tiebreaker.
Through Zhang's strong serving and Kato's good work at the net, they prevailed 7-2 and clinched a place in the second round.
"We did a standard job, and our opponents in this match were not very strong," said Zhang. "So it is good that we won smoothly, but we can do better."