BEIJING, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese player Wang Yafan was defeated by French player Caroline Garcia 6-7(10), 7-6(4), 3-6 here on Sunday after an intense competition in the first round of women's singles at China Open.
The grueling match lasted for more than three hours. Though Wang squandered her 5-2 lead in the first set tie-break, she delivered outstanding performance in the second set. However, the fourth seed Garcia fought back fiercely in the deciding set while Wang eventually missed her chance to make it to the next round.
"In the first set, I was a little bit nervous. I shouldn't have lost that many points. I should have relaxed more in the first set," Wang said after the match, "I was waiting at the baseline for too long. I didn't do many attacks. That is something I should work on, that I wasn't very satisfied with."
As the defending champion, Garcia said that she was very happy to be back in China Open. The 25-year-old said, "Every single time I was down, I was playing better. When I had the opportunity to go in front at the score, I was not going for it. Then she was just taking the chance, and I couldn't finish every single time."
Another local favorite Zheng Saisai played consistently against Ukrainian rising star Dayana Yastremska, entering into the second round with a win of 6-4, 6-3. Chinese player Duan Yingying was defeated by former Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova 6-3, 6-2.
Talking about the tactics against Cibulkova, Duan said, "She is a small player, but with great speed, good ball placement. However, today I wasn't really good with my backhand. The balls were very low. I wasn't really able to play my backhand."
