China's Zhang Ze reaches second round in French Open qualifiers
Chinese tennis player Zhang Ze won a straight-set victory over Filip Horansky of Slovakia for his second-round berth in the 2019 French Open men's singles qualifiers on Monday, while his teammate Li Zhe bowed out in front of Croatia's Nino Serdarusic.
Horansky handed Zhang, the highest-ranked Chinese male player, an early break through precise drop shots and a powerful forehand, before suffering a slump on his first serve. Zhang regrouped to break back for 3-all after six games.
Both players held their serves later on for a tiebreak, where the 234th-ranked Zhang didn't waste much time to savor an opening set victory at 7-3.
Feeling upbeat, Zhang broke twice into the second set for a 4-0 lead and never looked back. He sealed the match 6-2 following Horansky's poor return.
"It's a tough match," Zhang told Xinhua. "Chinese men's players are not quite familiar with clay, thus often making insufficient preparation for the clay season. This year, I came here three weeks ahead of schedule, hopefully making a breakthrough on this court."
Zhang bettered his Slovak opponent by 10 percent on the first serve and outclassed him 19-16 on winners.
"Clay is not my favorable surface. I will march forward game after game, and try to play at my best level," added Zhang, who will next face Italian Salvatore Caruso.
China's Li Zhe (R) greets his opponent Goncalo Oliveira of Portugal during their Zhuhai Open men's singles tennis match in Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, March 9, 2019. /VCG Photo
Li, who had made his career debut in the Grand Slam main draw at the 2019 Australian Open, was knocked out by Serdarusic 6-2, 6-2.
Uzbek veteran Denis Istomin, the No. 2 seed, had to bid farewell to the tournament after being stunned by Germany's Dustin Brown 7-6 (5), 6-1.
A total of 128 players are competing in the qualifiers for 16 berths in the main draw on Friday.
China's Wang Qiang returns a shot during her women's singles tennis match at Italian Open in Rome, Italy, May 13, 2019. /VCG Photo
On the women's side, China has Xu Shilin, Peng Shuai, Liu Fangzhou, Zhang Kailin, Wang Xiyu and Lu Jiajing in the qualifiers, which features 96 players.
Wang Qiang, Zhang Shuai, Zheng Saisai, Wang Yafan, and Zhu Lin will directly enter the women's singles main draw this year.
(Top image: Zhang Ze competes at the Zhuhai Open tennis match in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, China, March 9, 2019. /VCG Photo)