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ROME — China’s top tennis star Zheng Qinwen fought through a grueling 2-hour-29-minute battle but ultimately fell short, losing 6-4, 4-6, 4-6 to former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in the third round of the WTA 1000 Rome tournament on Friday.
The defeat snapped Zheng’s perfect 3-0 head-to-head record against Ostapenko. In the opening set, the Latvian broke first to go up 2-1, but Zheng responded fiercely, breaking back in the eighth game to level at 4-4 before securing another break in the 10th game to take the set 6-4.
Ostapenko raised her aggression in the second set, converting her fifth break point of the ninth game to even the match at 6-4.
The deciding set saw Zheng fire six aces, yet she could not recover from an early break in the third game, eventually losing 4-6.
“My serve was fine today, but my return let me down,” Zheng said after the match. “My returns were too short and I made too many errors. That’s something I need to work on when I get back to practice.”
Ostapenko will next face No. 22 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia in the fourth round. {IMAGE_1}
