China's Zhang Shuai and Peng Shuai failed to repeat their emphatic first round performance as both failed to progress to the third round at Roland Garros on Thursday. The second round exit of the duo means Wang Qiang remains as the lone torch-bearer of the Chinese challenge at the 2018 French Open. 

Zhang lost to her Romanian training partner Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-4 while Peng went down 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 against seventh-seeded French Caroline Garcia.

Zhang, who set her career best record of third round at Roland Garros last year, conceded a grueling 15-minute ninth game featuring many deuces before losing the first set 6-3. The Romanian carried forward her momentum in the second set and clinched the set as well as the match with a powerful match-winning service.

Peng, who led 2-1 in three previous head-to-heads against local favorite Garcia, hit every ball quite hard but it was Garcia who broke for the first time throughout the match in the seventh game, and wrapped up the first set with a powerful backhand.

Peng, however, clawed her way back into the game after Garcia made too many errors and subsequently, grabbed the second set to level the score a set apiece. But the French top-ranked player bounced back strongly in the third set and wrapped up the set as well as the match in front of partisan home crowds. The attacking Frenchwoman hit 31 winners but also made 39 unforced errors. She will now take on Begu in the next round.

Meanwhile, Wang will next face Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan on Friday in order to keep the Chinese hope alive at the Paris red clay event.