Chinese veteran Zhang Shuai moves forward in doubles, while Zheng and Yuan out at US Open
- Zhang, who won US Open doubles last year, and partner Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine ease to victory over Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Tereza Mihalikova
- Qualifier Yuan loses to local favourite Jessica Pegula and Zheng is knocked out by Jule Niemeier of Germany
Chinese veteran Zhang Shuai moved into the women’s doubles third round while her younger compatriots Zheng Qinwen and Yuan Yue both lost in their third singles matches at the US Open.
Defending champion Zhang and partner Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine eased to a comfortable win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus and Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova 6-1, 6-2 in 56 minutes.
Zhang, 33, who won the US Open doubles title with Australia’s Samantha Stosur last year, is now the only Chinese player in the singles, and will face American 12th seed Coco Gauff in the fourth round on Sunday.
Qualifier Yuan finished her US Open journey after losing to local favourite Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-7, 6-0, before Zheng was beaten by 108th-ranked Jule Niemeier of Germany 6-4, 7-6.
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.
The second set almost went the same way, with Yuan jumping out to a 4-1 lead before being dragged back, but this time the 23-year-old held her nerve to to take the game into a deciding set.
Yuan had to take a medical 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.
Zheng, 19, was unable to keep up with Niemeier, and after being broken in the seventh game of the first set, lost the second on the first match point in the tie break.
