China's rising tennis star Zheng aims to come back stronger

WUHAN -- Holding the silver platter in the center of Rod Laver Arena, China's tennis star Zheng Qinwen could hardly hide her regret.

"Today's match, I didn't play my best. That's really [a] pity for me, because I really want to show better than that," said the first-time Grand Slam finalist.

Belarus's Aryna Sabalenka started the game aggressively, with deep forehands and powerful backhand return, the second seed fended off triple-break point to build a 3-0 lead in the beginning, and clinched back-to-back Australian Open titles in 76 minutes.

"I started pretty slow and I didn't play my tennis there," said Zheng, who had chances to break the Belarusian while 40-0 ahead in the third game, but was not able to make it. "That little moment makes the match so different. She's a really aggressive player. If you let a chance go, it will happen like today."

Although Zheng had her Grand Slam dreams crushed in her first try, the 21-year-old proved herself to be competent and saw continuous improvement.

"Sabalenka is a very powerful player, but we also see Zheng's improvement and growth in this match. Zheng did not adapt to the opponent's serve in the beginning, but she quickly adjusted her state and was able to play some wonderful tennis," said Chen Wensheng, an official with Hubei Administration of Sport, who watched the live transmission in Zheng's hometown.

Zheng has the consolation of cracking the top 10 in the world rankings for the first time.

"I think I can learn more with the loss today, and then I just hope next time, I can come back as a better tennis player and come back stronger," Zheng noted.