Wang Xiyu of China celebrates after her women's singles second round victory over Maria Sakkari of Greece at the 2022 US Open in New York, Aug. 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
China's Wang Xiyu and Zhang Shuai kept up their momentum at the US Open as both reached the women's singles round of 32.
NEW YORK, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Wang Xiyu shocked world No. 3 Maria Sakkari of Greece 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 while Zhang Shuai beat Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets as both Chinese players stormed into the women's singles round of 32 at the US Open on Wednesday.
Wang, 21, who lost the first set 6-3 to last year's semifinalist Sakkari, remained calm to keep the 27-year-old third seed at bay with her big groundstrokes.
"I'm excited about the result. Today I did a good job but still need to improve my serving and my consistency. I'm just trying my best to save every ball," Wang said.
The world No. 75 took both the second and third sets 7-5 to conclude the match in two hours and 44 minutes and advance to the third round. This is the first time Wang has reached the round of 32 at a Grand Slam tournament.
Zhang Shuai of China hits a return during her women's singles second round victory against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia at the 2022 US Open, Aug. 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
Zhang, 33, displayed her consistency to see off world No. 115 Schmiedlova 7-5 and 6-1 in one hour and 27 minutes.
"I played really well today. Passing such a big test allows me to see my improvement. So happy to see many Chinese men and women make breakthroughs in this tournament," Zhang said.
World No. 36 Zhang thus reached the singles last 32 at the US Open for the fourth time, with her best results at Grand Slam events being two quarterfinal finishes at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Elsewhere, the Chinese pair of Wang Xinyu and Zhu Lin lost their opening match to Anna Bondar of Hungary and Greet Minnen of Belgium 5-7, 6-3, 4-6 in the women's doubles. ■
