Zheng Saisai and Zhang Shuai lose to end China interest in WTA Tenerife Ladies Open
- China’s No 1 and Japan’s Eri Hozumi beaten by fourth seeds Ellen Perez of Australia and Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri in semi-final
- Teenage Colombian Camila Osorio blasts past Chinese No 3 in straight sets in singles quarter-final
China’s interest in the WTA Tenerife Ladies Open ended on Friday as Zheng Saisai and Zhang Shuai both lost as the season heads to its final two tournaments.
Chinese No 3 Zheng was beaten by Colombian teenager Camila Osorio in straight sets with the 19-year-old winning 7-5, 6-1 in an hour and 42 minutes.
This was the first career meeting between the world No 86 Zhang and world No 63 Osorio.
Osorio had beaten No 1 seed Elina Svitolina in the first round and then Egypt’s Mayar Sherif, while Zheng entered the quarters after a thrilling three-set win over Danish No 7 seed Clara Tauson.
Against Osorio the 27-year-old missed the chance to break in the third game and the Colombian broke in the sixth game.
Zheng immediately broke serve in the second set opener but then went on to lose six straight games.
Zheng into Tenerife singles quarters, Zhang makes doubles semis
In the doubles, China’s No 1 Zhang Shuai and Eri Hozumi of Japan lost in their semi-final against Ellen Perez of Australia and Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri.
The No 2 seeds were beaten by the No 4 seeds in three sets – 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 – with the first set of this semi-final the first that they had dropped in Tenerife.
Zhang and Hozumi fought back in the second set, racing to a 4-0 lead before holding their nerve and their serve to take it 6-4 but the decider would prove their undoing.
They were soon down 7-3 to the No 4 seeds and though they saved a match point Perez and Eikeri powered through to the final.
Elsewhere, China’s Zheng Qinwen is in the qualifiers at the Courmayer Open in Italy, one of two tournaments next week that bring the season to a close.
Romania’s Transylvania Open in Cluj is the other but Zhang and Zheng Saisai’s appearances are not confirmed at either tournament.
Zhang into doubles second round, Zheng joins Wang in singles
Zhang will play in the season closing WTA Finals in Mexico next month, where she has been invited to the doubles tournament along with her US Open-winning partner Samantha Stosur of Australia.
Only eight singles players and eight doubles pairings are invited to the event in Guadalajara, which was moved there from Shenzhen because of Covid-19.
Zhang will be making her first appearance at the season finale.
