Yuan Yue of China hits a return during the women's singles third round match against Jessica Pegula of the United States at the 2022 U.S. Open tennis championships on Sept. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue won an intense tiebreaker in the second set but failed to keep momentum in the deciding set, before losing to U.S. player Jessica Pegula in full sets in the women's singles third round of the U.S. Open.
NEW YORK, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Chinese qualifier Yuan Yue finished her U.S. Open journey on Saturday after losing to local player Jessica Pegula 2-6, 7-6 (6), 0-6 in the women's singles third round, while Zhang Shuai moved into the doubles third round.
World No. 142 Yuan started the match with a 2-1 lead in the first set but collapsed afterwards to lose five games in a row to eighth-seeded Pegula.
Having established a 4-1 advantage, Yuan almost saw the second set turned around again, but the 23-year-old held her nerves to drag the match into the deciding set through a tiebreaker.
Yuan had to take a timeout before the deciding set for treatment on her ankle which took a toll on her performance, as she failed to keep Pegula from rolling in the third set when the American player won six unanswered games to wrap it up.
Despite the defeat, Yuan has already set her best record at a Grand Slam tournament by reaching the U.S. Open third round this time.
In the women's doubles, defending champion Zhang Shuai showed her steady form, paired up with Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine to reach the third round.
Having defeated Nadiia Kichenok and Oksana Kalashnikova 6-4, 6-4 in the first round, the 11th seeds registered another comfortable win by dominating Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus and Slovakia's Tereza Mihalikova 6-1, 6-2 in 56 minutes.
Zhang, 33, who lifted the U.S. Open doubles title with Australian Samantha Stosur last year, now has two Grand Slam doubles titles in hand.
She also reached the last 16 in the singles event at the U.S. Open for the first time after defeating Canadian Rebecca Marino in straight sets, and teamed up with Croatian Mate Pavic to reach the mixed doubles second round on Friday.
