Zhengzhou aces its upgrade

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For the six Chinese players in the main draw, testing themselves against such top players could only be a positive-no matter what their level.

"This year I've played many tournaments and gained a lot of experience," said quarterfinalist Zheng Saisai, who won her first WTA title last month in California and was a women's doubles finalist at this year's French Open.

"I think I'm improving through all these different tournaments. The achievement I made this year is thanks to the team that has been helping and supporting me, including my trainers and therapists. I finally proved myself and hope I can have better performances in the future matches."

You Xiaodi was probably the proudest youngster in the field after giving 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko a major scare in the opening round.

"It's the first time I've played a WTA Premier main-draw match and the first time I encountered a Grand Slam winner," said You, who lost 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 to Osaka.

"I'm steadily improving this season and I just want to make more breakthroughs. The next step for me is to level up my ranking to 180 or so, then 150. I'll just try my best to go higher and higher."

Duan Yingying, Zheng's doubles partner, reckons it won't be too long before a Chinese player emerges to emulate Hall of Famer Li Na.

"The young Chinese players can now play all these high-level WTA tournaments in China, which was unthinkable when I started my career," said Duan. "Although we are still waiting for the next Chinese superstar, the overall strength of Chinese tennis has improved."