“Bruises on my palms, blood on my fingers” – Zheng on ‘painful’ loss in China Open SF

World No 7 Zheng Qinwen‘s journey in China Open witnessed a ‘painful’ end against Czech Karolina Muchova in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Zheng, the No 5 seed, went down against Muchova in straight sets (6-3, 6-4), after failing to convert any break points and committing seven double faults.

Playing in front of the home crowd at Chinese National Tennis Center’s Diamond Court, Zheng also suffered a nasty fall that injured her badly.

“I know exactly why I fell, because I wasn’t focused enough,” she noted in her post-match press conference. “I was too tired. Mentality-wise I wasn’t focused, so I fell.

I felt the pain. Bruises on my palms as well as blood on my fingers, my left butt. I wasn’t able to run.”

Zheng, being the local star, played one night session after another in Beijing, downing the likes of Russian Kamilla Rakhimova (6-1, 6-1), Argentinian Nadia Podoroska (6-3, 6-2), American Amanda Anisimova (3-6, 6-1, 6-2), and seed No 17 Mirra Andreeva (5-7, 6-0, 6-4).

The match-ups, in the world No 7’s words, did more bad than good to her.

“But the most important thing is I wasn’t feeling mentally strong,” she added in her presser on Saturday. “I wasn’t sleeping enough to be ready for this match. I think if I had more sleep, if I had more rest, without the nighttime match last night.

“I felt that today I wasn’t able to get the maximum rest and concentration. When I wasn’t focused enough, I wasn’t able to put in 100 percent. I could have done better. I need to be positive. The positive thing is that it has been a positive week for me.”

This was notably Zheng’s second loss in three meetings with Karolina Muchova. The Paris Olympics gold medalist’s next stop is Wuhan, where she will take the court as No 5 seed in the concluding WTA 1000 event of the season.

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