China No 1 Zhang Shuai loses WTA Finals debut with Samantha Stosur
- US Open winners beaten in straight sets by fourth seeds Demi Schuurs and Nicole Melichar-Martinez in Guadalajara
- Japanese pair Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara make winning start in group’s other game
China’s No 1 tennis player Zhang Shuai made a losing start on her WTA Finals debut alongside Samantha Stosur in Guadalajara, where the US Open champions were beaten by Demi Schuurs and Nicole Melichar-Martinez in their group opener.
Veteran Australian Stosur, making her fifth appearance in the season ending WTA Finals in doubles, could not call on her experience to help overcome the fourth seeds at the Estadio Tenis Akron.
The doubles pairs did not take to the court for some time as the singles game between Karolina Pliskova and Garbine Muguruza went to a thrilling third set tiebreak but Schuurs and Melichar made sure that they would not be there long, winning in an hour and three minutes.
Schuurs of the Netherlands and Melichar of the US raced into a 5-1 lead in the first set before winning the set 6-2. It was a better showing in the second set from the fifth seeds but they lost momentum from being level at 2-2.
The US-Dutch duo broke serve to go 3-2 ahead and then edge their own service game to take a commanding 4-2 lead. They then broke again to serve for the match and make a winning start to the season finale, which sees doubles pairs play for the WTA Finals Martina Navratilova Trophy.
They also gained revenge for a third round defeat to Zhang and Stosur in the third round in Cincinnati, which the Chinese-Australian pair went on to win on their way to the US Open crown.
Shuai-Stosur avoid Hsieh-Mertens in WTA Finals draw
US Open champions Zhang, 32, and Stosur, 37, were drawn in the Group Tenochtitlán for the event, which was the supposedly easier draw.
They avoided the world’s top four ranked doubles players – world No 1 Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her No 4 ranked partner Elise Mertens of Belgium and the Czech top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
However, the Chinese and Australian have not played together since winning in New York and now have an uphill battle to get out of the group.
They will have to beat Japanese second seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara, who made a winning start to their WTA Finals by beating seventh seeds Darija Jurak of Croatia and Andreja Klepac of Slovenia.
The Japanese pair – who are making their first WTA Finals appearance – won 6-0, 6-4 in an hour and seven minutes.
The event, which runs until November 17, was set to be played in Shenzhen before being moved to to Mexico.
