DUBAI - After three qualifier wins, China's best tennis player Zheng Saisai lost Tuesday her first round match of the Dubai Duty Free Women's Tennis Open 2016 against world's number 22 Sara Errani in two sets 7-5, 6-3.
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Bologna-born Errani, ranked 22nd in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) list, started somewhat nervous and had difficulties to find a concept against Zheng's clever power play in which she quickly switched from corner to corner and from the baseline to the net.
But the 1.64 meter tall Italian improved on Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium's court number one and shortened a 0-4 backlog to a 5-4 in the first set as Zheng, ranked 70th, looked increasingly tired and unfocused.
Errani, dressed in pink-white, turned the sides of the table and win the first set 7-5. The more mistakes Zheng made, the stronger Errani emerged, albeit the Italian's favorite ground is clay, not hard court.
In the second set, Zheng, dressed completely in yellow, showed a high degree of motivation to run around the match, but movements indicated her exhaustion after the Shaanxi-born won three qualifier matches in Dubai from Saturday to Monday in a row, along with a three-set double victory with her partner Xu Yifan on late Monday.
"I lost this match because I slowed down in the middle of the first set, as I also felt tired," admitted Zheng.
Nevertheless, Zheng said she will stay in Dubai and continue to play the double with Xu as far as they can get at the 16th WTA year of the Dubai Tennis Open which runs in its 24th edition (DDF Tennis was originally an all-men's tournament).
The finals of the women's tournament will take place on Saturday, February 20.
