China Open Women’s Singles – Final: Zhang Shuai Falls to Badosa, Regretfully Ending Run in the Quarterfinals

At 15:00 on October 3rd, in the quarterfinals of the WTA500 tournament held in China, veteran Zhang Shuai, ranked 595th in the world, faced off against Badosa, who is ranked 19th globally.

In the first set, Badosa was the first to find her rhythm and broke Zhang Shuai’s serve; subsequently, Zhang Shuai still could not regain her previous excellent form, and her serve was broken again, falling behind 0-4; after a hard-fought hold of serve, she made multiple double faults in her second service game and lost the first set 1-6;

In the second set, Zhang Shuai quickly adjusted her state, and after four deadlocked games with Badosa, she first obtained a break point and achieved a break;

In her service game, Zhang Shuai once fell behind 0-30, but then two quick volleys caused unforced errors from Badosa, followed by two high-quality returns, completing the hold and leading 2-0;

In Badosa’s service game, Zhang Shuai hit multiple high-quality returns, but Badosa’s serve quality forced Zhang Shuai to make three consecutive errors despite being ahead, unfortunately missing the break opportunity;

Subsequently, both players held their serves, bringing the score to 3-2 with Zhang Shuai in the lead; Badosa then rapidly regained her form, breaking and holding consecutively to win two games, overtaking the score, leaving Zhang Shuai trailing 3-4;

In the following four games, both successfully held serve, and the score was tied again, reaching 5-6 with Zhang Shuai trailing; in the critical service game, Zhang Shuai hit an astonishing Outside-in shot to hold serve, sending the match into a tiebreak;

In the crucial tiebreak, Zhang Shuai double-faulted on a key serve, and then both players broke each other multiple times. Ultimately, Zhang Shuai lost the tiebreak 4-7 to Badosa, losing the match 0-2 overall, regrettably ending her run in the quarterfinals.