ROME, May 9 (Xinhua) -- China's Zheng Qinwen lost to former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round of the WTA Italian Open on Saturday.
Zheng had won all three of their previous meetings. In the third game of the opening set, Ostapenko struck two return winners to secure the first break of the match and move ahead 2-1. Zheng leveled the score at 4-4 with a break in the eighth game and then broke again in the 10th to take the opening set 6-4.
Ostapenko raised her level of aggression in the second set, firing 24 winners and eventually converting her fifth break point of the ninth game, before claiming the set 6-4.
In the deciding set, Zheng fired six aces, but after being broken in the third game, she was unable to break back and eventually fell 6-4. The match lasted two hours and 29 minutes.
Zheng said that her serves had performed well, but her returns let her down. "My return game held me back today," she said. "My returns were too short and I made too many errors. That's definitely something I need to work on when I go back."
Ostapenko will face 22nd seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia in the fourth round. ■
