China's Zhang Shuai lost 7-5, 7-6 to No. 14 seed Sofia Kenin on Day 5 of the Australian Open on Friday, failing to join her compatriot Wang Qiang in the Round of 16.
Zhang won in straight sets the previous time the pair met at the Indian Wells Masters in 2018 and the 31-year-old seemed to carry her winning momentum into Melbourne. Having broken Kenin's first serve, she rushed to a 3-0 lead in the first set, extending it further to set point at 5-2.
However, Zhang lost the opportunity and did not manage to win another game in the set with the 14th seed winning five games in a row.
In Game 2, Zhang again achieved the early upper hand to lead 2-0. Once again, Kenin managed to turn the tables and finally put an end to the match by winning a tiebreak.
Zhang was stopped at the Round of 32 at the Australian Open for the second consecutive time. In the next round, Kenin will meet 15-year-old Coco Gauff who upset defending champion Naomi Osaka 6-3, 6-4.
The two met for the first time at the U.S. Open last year and Osaka claimed a win in straight sets. Moreover, the two-time Grand Slam champion had won 16 of her 17 matches since last year's U.S. Open. Therefore, many were confident that she would secure the Australian Open title again.
But Osaka struggled the whole time in Friday's match. She had 30 unforced errors and her second serve percentage was only 33. No wonder it only took Gauff one hour and seven minutes to win the match,
It was her first victory over a top 5 player and is her second trip to the Round of 16 at a Grand Slam event after she did so at Wimbledon last year.
