Two top players fell early in Jiujiang! Zhu Lin’s injury exit is the saddest, Yuan Yue’s elimination the most regrettable.

Following the surprises involving Zhu Lin and Yuan Yue at the Jiujiang 250, supporters and online commentators bluntly stated that the Chinese women’s squad is totally shaken, and relying on lower-ranked players to keep things steady appears quite challenging!

When Zhu Lin declared her withdrawal from the Guangzhou 250, public attention turned sharply to her participation in Jiujiang, with many expecting her skill level to bring strong results in this tournament.

Therefore, seeing Zhu Lin looking energetic and in good form at the Jiujiang opening ceremony, the public eagerly anticipated her first-round match against the American player Parks.

The match between Zhu Lin and Parks was full of twists right from the first set!

When the Chinese star quickly took a 3-1 lead, many viewers in the live stream assumed Zhu Lin would comfortably secure the first set. Unexpectedly, her performance faltered drastically, losing five consecutive games, allowing Parks to overturn the set 6-3.

Although many criticized Zhu Lin for squandering a strong position, they still believed she would learn from the first set and stage an exciting comeback starting from the second set.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Lin suddenly retired due to injury while trailing 1-2, catching everyone completely off guard.

Zhu Lin’s injury withdrawal also marked the official end of her Chinese season. Ending this way by injury led many to comment that the more you consider it, the more tragic her story seems. After withdrawing from the Guangzhou tournament, she only played one set and one game in Jiujiang before retiring. Such repeated misfortune made fans and netizens feel that fate has been harsh to her. With the National Games about to start, suffering an injury now could seriously impact her participation in this once-every-four-years tennis event, which would be truly heartbreaking.

After Zhu Lin’s injury exit from the Jiujiang singles, the spotlight immediately shifted to another star, Yuan Yue.

Unexpectedly, the higher the hopes, the greater the disappointment. Yuan Yue not only failed to bring uplifting news but was shockingly upset by an unknown opponent, causing an uproar in public opinion!

Before the match between the Yangzhou player and lucky loser Plidanina began, fans in the live chat predicted that, given the betting odds favoring Yuan Yue at 1 to 1.18 over Plidanina’s 1 to 3.75, the Russian ranked 205th would find it very hard to even take a set from Yuan Yue, expecting a straight-sets win for Yuan Yue.

With the odds in her favor and perceived stronger ability, many in the live stream considered this the least stressful match to watch.

However, after a fierce battle from the start of the first set, Yuan Yue ran into serious trouble and quickly lost the first set 2-6, becoming the player under the most pressure throughout the match.

On a positive note, Yuan Yue steadied herself in the second set and won it 6-3 to even the match.

Seeing Plidanina’s performance in the first two sets seemed inconsistent with her ranking, no one underestimated the Russian anymore entering the decisive set. Everyone hoped Yuan Yue would play steadily, especially since after Zhu Lin’s exit, she was the last top player from China in Jiujiang. Another upset would mean relying on lower-ranked players to carry China’s flag at this 250 event would be extremely difficult.

Concerns about Yuan Yue were confirmed when she reached her service game to close the match in the final set. But then she played a cruel joke on everyone: despite having three match points, she failed to convert any, allowing the Russian to push the set into a tiebreak. Ultimately, Yuan Yue lost the tiebreak, ending her run in a surprising and disappointing manner.

Since the Jiujiang 250 tournament lacks top-tier stars, many initially believed that with Zhu Lin and Yuan Yue competing, good results were possible. Yet, the way both exited the singles competition was more shocking than expected.

After the two leading players were eliminated, some netizens expressed helplessness, saying this Chinese-season tournament will soon become a stage dominated by foreigners, with Chinese players merely watching from the sidelines.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Moon River’s Starry Sky)