In the early morning of the 22nd, Beijing time, in the second round of the men's singles at the ATP 250 level in Doha, Zhang Zhizhen, the number one player in the Chinese men's tennis, fought hard for 3 sets, and finally defeated the 37-year-old French veteran Monfils 6-7 and 6-7 and missed the quarterfinals. Next, Zhang Zhizhen will also switch to the Dubai race.
In the first round of Doha, Zhang Zhizhen only took 61 minutes to send eggs to sweep the current world No. 26 Musetti and advance to the round of 16. In the second round, Zhang Zhizhen faced the French veteran Monfils, which was the first meeting between the two sides. In the first set, both sides showed good service and return standards, and after holding serve in the first 8 games, Zhang Zhizhen completed the key break in the crucial 9th game, and then won the service game to win the set 6-4. In the second set, the two sides fell into a fierce battle again. In the first 11 games, they all held serve, and Monfils, who served first, broke serve in Zhang Zhizhen's service game and equalized the set.
In the deciding set, Zhang Zhizhen was the first to be broken in the second game, but he quickly broke back in the third game. The two sides were tied 6-6 after the first 12 games and entered the deciding set to tie seven games. Unfortunately, Zhang Zhizhen fell into a passive position at the start of the tie-break 0-3, and Monfils quickly extended his advantage with a good serve. The score pressure forced Zhang Zhizhen to make many unforced errors and double faults, lost the crucial tie-break game 2-7, and missed the men's singles quarterfinals in Doha, which took 2 hours and 23 minutes. Next, Zhang Zhizhen will take a break to play in ATP Dubai next week.
Text: Beijing Youth Daily reporter Chu Peng.
Edited by Wang Haozhou.