Home veteran Zhang Shuai gave her all, but fell short against the USA's Amanda Anisimova in the third round of the China Open in Beijing on Sunday. The match marked Anisimova's second meeting with the 36-year-old Zhang, having won their only previous encounter in 2018.

China's Zhang started strong, hitting a forehand winner to break for a 5-3 lead, before Anisimova fought back to force a tiebreaker. After fending off a remarkable five set points, the crowd favorite brought up one of her own, only to see the American land a backhand winner to save it, leveling the extra session at 10-10.

The 24-year-old Anisimova, enjoying the best season of her career after reaching back-to-back Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and the US Open, eventually claimed the tiebreaker 15-13.

The American stepped away from tennis in 2023 and returned at Wimbledon the following year, with her ranking down to 189th. Now up to a career-high World No. 4, she dominated the second set, hammering more backhand winners.

The two-time major runner-up closed out the second set 6-0 with an ace, becoming the third player born since 2000 to win 150 Tour-level matches, following Poland's Iga Swiatek and American compatriot Coco Gauff. She will face the Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova in the round of 16.

"My physical condition was not very good this time, so I could not play as well as in the first two rounds," Zhang said after the match. "Facing a tough opponent, I told myself to play hard and avoid being swept away. After winning the first couple of games and even taking the lead in the opening set, I thought I did a great job. I just tried my best here, but I ran out of energy."