Zheng Saisai of China competes during the women's singles second round of tennis against Daria Kasatkina of Russia at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 8, 2016. Daria Kasatkina won Zheng Saisai with 2:0. (Xinhua/Han Yan)
China's four women's singles players have all been eliminated from the tennis competition at the Rio Olympic Games.
Zhang Shuai lost to Laura Siegemund of Germany 6-2, 6-4 in the second round on Monday when Zheng Saisai fell to Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-4. On Sunday, Wang Qiang lost to Russian 8th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 in the first round where U.S. Open semifinalist Peng Shuai could not find a way to contain British Heather Watson, losing 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in two hours 29 minutes.
Zhang admitted that she ran out of steam after the first day competition playing both the singles and doubles matches on Sunday. The doubles match lasted two hours 44 minutes before Zhang and Peng Shuai overcame Indian pair Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare.
"I have had a tight competition schedule and long matches on the first day. I felt so tired and sometimes even had difficulty spotting the ball on court today," said Zhang, who now can focus on the doubles next.