The 2024 season was a meaningful year for Chinese women's tennis. During that year, Zheng Qinwen made it to her maiden Grand Slam final at the Australian Open, the first Chinese female finalist in ten years since 2014; meanwhile, Yuan Yue secured her first professional tour championship.

That year also saw Zheng Qinwen and Wang Xinyu face off in an all-Chinese semifinal at the WTA 1000 Wuhan tournament; additionally, Zhang Shuai achieved four consecutive wins at the WTA 1000 China Open, ending a 24-match losing streak. Because of these achievements, many fans developed high hopes for Chinese women's tennis, with some even believing that a Grand Slam title was within reach.

However, yesterday at the Huzhou Challenger qualifying rounds, the four Chinese female players competing faced a harsh setback. What exactly happened? Let this article take you through it! Yuan Chengyiyi entered the Huzhou Challenger qualifiers as a wildcard. Last season, she reached two finals in the Hope Series. However, since the start of the 2025 season, her form has been disappointing, only making it to the semifinals twice in the Hope Series. This performance caused her world ranking to drop nearly a hundred places.

In the first round of qualifying, facing the seventh seed and Russian player Kudashova, despite giving her all, she only managed to win five games throughout the match. Objectively speaking, this was a clear defeat. After being swept off the court, Yuan Chengyiyi’s progress halted. She is currently on a three-match losing streak.

It is important to note that this three-match losing streak began with her loss to Russian player Kudashova. At the end of August, in the first round of the Hope Series in Thailand, Yuan Chengyiyi, having come through qualifying, initially took the lead but was eventually overturned by Kudashova, ending her run with disappointment. From that point, her losing streak started.

Also competing with a wildcard, Xu Guyu faced the third seed in qualifying, Kazakhstan’s Kurambayeva. In this match, making her WTA professional debut, she showed no resistance and was defeated in straight sets without winning a game. Perhaps Xu Guyu needs more time to develop, and hopefully, she will perform better in the future.

Compared to Yuan Chengyiyi and Xu Guyu, Li Zongyu demonstrated stronger competitiveness and holds the highest ranking among the three. In the first round of qualifying, Li faced the eighth seed, Russian player Reingold. She took the first set 6-4, but Reingold gradually found her rhythm, winning the second set 6-2 to push the match to a decider. In the final set, Reingold reversed the match with a 6-2 win, leaving Li Zongyu to accept defeat and exit the tournament.

Guo Meiqi was the only Chinese female player in the Huzhou qualifiers who had won a Hope Series title in the 2025 season. However, she also had the toughest draw among the Chinese players. In the first round, she faced the top seed in qualifying, American Hannah Zhang. Despite being ranked over 200 places lower in the world, Guo Meiqi took the first set 7-5, briefly raising hopes of advancing. Yet ultimately, strength on the court decided the outcome, as Hannah Zhang came back to win the next two sets and the match.

Thus, in the first round of the Huzhou Challenger qualifiers, all four Chinese female players were eliminated. This clearly indicates that Chinese women's tennis still has a long road ahead. Only by strengthening the foundation can Chinese women's tennis make better progress. That’s the tennis story for today; more to come tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Yixin Jushi)