Madrid, April 26 (NationPress) The Chinese tennis sensation Zheng Qinwen faced elimination from the Madrid Open on Friday, enduring a 6-4, 6-4 loss to Russia's Anastasia Potapova after a match that spanned one hour and 40 minutes.

Zheng's departure in the round of 64 means there are no Chinese competitors remaining in either the men's or women's singles events in Madrid. The gold medallist from the Paris Olympics entered the tournament as the eighth seed but struggled to establish her game against Potapova, who is ranked 87th globally, under the warm sun.

A significant issue for Zheng was her serve; she only won 40 percent of her points in the first set, while Potapova exhibited better performance, securing 64 percent of her points on her first serve, putting Zheng in a challenging position, as reported by Xinhua.

Zheng seemed to gain momentum when she broke Potapova's serve while down 5-3 in the first set. However, Potapova responded by breaking Zheng's serve once more in the 10th game, clinching the first set 6-4.

During the second set, Zheng managed to break Potapova in the third game and appeared to be regaining her serving prowess but faltered again, being broken in the seventh and ninth games.

Other notable results from Friday included 17th seed Elina Svitolina defeating Sonay Kartal 6-3, 6-1, Elise Mertens overcoming Camila Osoria 6-3, 6-3, and top seed Aryna Sabalenka beginning her title defense with a straightforward 6-3, 6-4 victory over Anna Blinkova.

Zheng was not the only seeded player to exit in the round of 64; 2022 champion Ons Jabeur suffered an upset against Moyuka Uchijima from Japan 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Furthermore, 21st seed Ekaterina Alexandrova was defeated by Serbia's Olga Danilovic 6-3, 6-4, while Peyton Stearns triumphed over 15th seed Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.