Zhang Shuai’s debut loss leaves Zheng Qinwen as the sole remaining Chinese player, while Sabalenka and Swiatek’s withdrawals spark jokes

The Dubai 1000 event, following Doha, has not yet started its main matches but has already drawn much lamentation in the media!

At the center of this lament is Zhang Shuai’s unsuccessful bid for a winning start!

Despite Zhang Shuai’s strong start to the season with an Australian Open doubles championship, she has endured back-to-back singles losses since that triumph!

Therefore, drawing top seed Baptiste in the first round of the Dubai qualifiers left mixed feelings—uncertainty whether Zhang should feel fortunate or disappointed to face the American!

Zhang Shuai and Baptiste are not strangers; they previously met in the first round of the 2021 US Open, where Zhang swept the young American player in straight sets, giving her a tough lesson early in her career.

More than four years later, their rematch psychologically favors Zhang, who is expected to leverage her experience against the American to end her current losing streak and secure a positive start for herself and the Chinese women’s team in Dubai—a result that would surely be welcomed.

However, Tennis.com’s prediction for this key match shows Baptiste holding a 61% chance of winning over Zhang’s 39%, signaling to the public that the American’s sweet revenge is the likely outcome.

The data from the media clearly implies that their encounter over four years ago at the US Open is too distant to be relevant now. Moreover, both players have changed significantly since then. The American, 13 years younger and a typical power player, has matured greatly through years of competition. Facing such a tough opponent in the first qualifying round is certainly unfavorable for Zhang, casting a shadow of sadness over her prospects.

The match proved that Baptiste is no longer the inexperienced girl from four years ago. The increasingly mature American pushed Zhang hard in the first set, and although Zhang has more big-match experience, she was not outplayed.

Particularly after they reached a 4-4 tie, Baptiste’s age advantage became more apparent as the match progressed. Zhang struggled to withstand the American’s power and eventually lost the first set 4-6.

In the second set, Baptiste capitalized on Zhang’s declining stamina, taking the set 6-4 to end the match decisively, avenging her 2019 US Open loss and handing Zhang a second consecutive defeat in the Middle East season.

With Zhang Shuai eliminated in the first round of Dubai qualifiers and Wang Xinyu’s early withdrawal, Zheng Qinwen became the only Chinese female player left in the singles draw.

The only hope now is that Zheng Qinwen draws a favorable bracket, allowing the Chinese women’s team’s flag to fly longer in Dubai; otherwise, it would mean the entire Chinese contingent is wiped out early in this Dubai 1000 singles competition.

The second regretful issue this year in Dubai is the wave of withdrawals sweeping through the tournament.

Previously, the withdrawals of Naomi Osaka, Keys, Riske, Bouzas, Kudermetova, Vondrousova, Kessler, and Wang Xinyu surprised many. However, with Sabalenka’s anticipated return and players like Swiatek, Rybakina, and Gauff still competing, the star power remained intact. Unexpectedly, just before the tournament’s start, news broke that both Sabalenka and Swiatek had withdrawn simultaneously.

The confirmed withdrawal of the world number one and two reshaped the top seed lineup for Dubai 1000, making the top eight seeds this year Rybakina, Anisimova, Gauff, Pegula, Andreescu, Bouchard, Svitolina, and Aleksandrova.

However, when discussing this withdrawal wave, Sabalenka and Swiatek unexpectedly became the main targets of fans’ and netizens’ jokes. They say the Australian Open loss hit the Belarusian player hard, and she has yet to recover, so her withdrawal is understandable as she continues to heal.

Swiatek, on the other hand, is said to have seriously declined in hard-court performance. Her withdrawal is seen as a strategic move to prepare for a strong comeback during the North American hard-court swing.

Speculation that the Polish player is holding back a big move comes from her interview in Doha, where she admitted to working on adjustments to her serve, forehand, and movement. After losing unexpectedly to Sakkari in Doha’s quarterfinals and with no time between matches, her decision to pull out of Dubai 1000 is viewed as a focused effort to improve.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Moonlit River’s Starry Sky)