The action at the Rome Open continues this week as both singles and doubles competitions advance to deeper rounds. In the women’s singles, no Chinese players remain after Zheng Qinwen fell to Ostapenko. The round of 16 matchups are as follows:
[26] Kostyia vs [13] Noskova
[22] Kalinskaya vs Ostapenko
[3] Gauff vs [16] Jovic
[21] Mertens vs [8] Andreeva
[5] Pegula vs [Q] Potapova
[15] Osaka vs [4] Swiatek
[7] Svitolina vs [L] Bartunkova
Ka. Pliskova vs [2] Rybakina
Although top seed Sabalenka exited early, the overall performance of higher-seeded players in this 16-player list remains steady. Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles—often considered a traditional strength for China—several Chinese players have already taken the court. Third seeds Zhang Shuai and Elise Mertens drew a tough first-round matchup against the Grand Slam-winning duo of Wang Xinyu and Hsieh Su-wei.
In their clash yesterday, Zhang/Mertens took the first set, but Wang Xinyu grew more confident and aggressive from the baseline. She and Hsieh turned the match around, claiming a 6-7, 7-5, 10-6 victory to advance to the women’s doubles round of 16 at this year’s Rome Open.
According to the draw, Wang/Hsieh will next face Andreeva and Shnaider, who eliminated Kichenok and Krawczyk in the first round.
Wang Xinyu has struggled recently in singles, but she remains effective in doubles. Beating a Grand Slam-winning pair like Zhang/Mertens highlights her sharp play. A look at the head-to-head record between Wang and Zhang in doubles reveals a surprising trend.
Before this Rome tournament, Wang Xinyu and Zhang Shuai had met three times in women’s doubles, with Zhang losing all three. Their first encounter was in the 2019 Nanchang final, where Zhang (partnering with Duan Yingying) lost to Wang and Zhu Lin. The second came in the 2021 Courmayeur final, where Zheng Saisai and Wang defeated Zhang and Hozumi Eri. Their most recent meeting before Rome was the 2023 French Open, where Wang and Hsieh beat Zhang and Mladenovic; Wang and Hsieh went on to win that year’s title.
Interestingly, all three previous times Wang beat Zhang in doubles, Wang went on to win the tournament. Now, after a fourth victory over Zhang, can Wang and Hsieh capture the Rome title?