Zhang Shuai of China hits a return to Johanna Konta of Britain during their women's singles quarterfinal match at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 7, 2016. Johanna Konta won by 2-0. (Photo: Xinhua/Ju Huanzong)
Chinese number one Zhang Shuai lost to nemesis Johanna Konta of Britain 6-4, 6-0 here at the China Open quarterfinals on Friday.
It's Zhang's third consecutive loss of the season against Konta, who also defeated the Chinese player at the Australian Open and just-ended Wuhan Open last week.
The quarterfinal match saw a roller coaster performance from Zhang, who stormed to 4-0 in the opening set in just 15 minutes but dropped 12 games in a row to concede the shock defeat.
To a noisy home crowd at the Diamond Court, the 27-year-old Zhang had two breaks comfortably in the first set, but suddenly lost steam in the remaining time, allowing Konta to have the game in control.
Konta hit 11 winners to just 2 of Zhang and also had three aces in the first set.
Konta looked to be at about the peak of her hard court game in the second set while Zhang never looked comfortable against her aggressive opponent, losing the match 6-4, 6-0.
Konta's reward will be a semifinal clash against 8th seeded American Madison Keys who beat 14th seed Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(5).
