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In the early morning of August 28th, Beijing time, on the second day of the first round of the 2024 US Open, many Chinese players including Zhang Zhizhen, Zhang Shuai, Zheng Saisai, Wang Xinyu and Wang Qiang appeared. Zheng Saisai lost to qualifier Ponchet 4-6, 1-6 and was eliminated in the first round. Half an hour later, the 35-year-old veteran Zhang Shuai faced local player Kruger, won first and then lost, and was reversed and eliminated 6-0, 6-1, 5-7, suffering 23 consecutive singles losses, continuing to refresh the WTA history record.

As the former number one in Chinese women's tennis, Zhang Shuai's best singles record in Grand Slam tournaments was the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Her highest ranking in history was 22nd in the world. However, since the beginning of the 2023 season, due to injuries and age, her condition has declined significantly. After defeating Brengel in Lyon on January 31, 2023, she started a streak of 22 consecutive losses, setting the longest losing streak in WTA history.

In the recent Cincinnati 1000 tournament, Zhang Shuai only resisted for 56 minutes before losing 0-2 to the now hot Schneider, and was eliminated in the first round. Now at the US Open, in addition to singles, Zhang Shuai also has women's doubles and mixed doubles to compete in, and it takes a lot of energy to take care of all these competitions.

According to the draw results, Zhang Shuai's first-round singles opponent was Kruger, who is ranked 59th in the world. Surprisingly, Zhang Shuai was in great form in the first set, with a hot hand, winning 6 games in a row and handing Kruger a bagel. However, in the second set, Kruger found his form and almost handed him a bagel. In the end, he won 6-1 and the total score was tied.

In the deciding set, the first eight games were tied at 4-4, with each player breaking the opponent's serve once. Zhang Shuai withstood Kruger's fierce attack and did not repeat the mistake of having her serve broken consecutively in the second set.

In the crucial 9th ​​game, Zhang Shuai failed to break Kruger's serve and faced an unfavorable situation of falling behind 4-5. In the 10th game, Zhang Shuai withstood the pressure and also held the serve to tie the score at 5-5. In the 11th game, Kruger continued to hold the serve and broke Zhang Shuai's serve in the 12th game, winning again with a score of 7-5 and achieving a 2-1 reversal in the total score.

Next, Zhang Shuai will have a women's doubles match with Mladenovic and a mixed doubles match with Arevalo. However, the prize money for doubles is relatively small, with the first round prize money for women's doubles being $25,000, the second round prize money being $40,000, and the champion being $750,000. The first round prize money for mixed doubles is $20,000, the second round prize money is $33,000, and the champion is $400,000. Zhang Shuai can only earn more prize money if she goes further and further with her partner.