ZHANG SHUAI’S Wimbledon campaign came to an end Tuesday, as the Chinese lost to former world No. 1 Simona Halep 7-6, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

Zhang had achieved a personal best in reaching the last eight of a Grand Slam for the first time. Before Tuesday’s match, Zhang had held a 2-1 win record over Romania’s Halep.

Halep trailed 0-3 in the first set, but the 2018 French Open winner found her form and brought the set to the tiebreak. Zhang had 29 unforced errors during the game, in contrast to only 13 from Halep.

This helped the Romanian turn the tables in the first set and then convincingly win the second.

“I have started to feel more comfortable on the court. I didn’t slide at all this tournament,” Halep said.

“I like her not only because she plays good tennis, but because she’s a great person,” Zhang said of her old rival.

“I’ve beaten her twice before, and she was still very nice to me. Even if she is really tired, she always tries hard. She’s a hero in Romania,” Zhang added.

Also entering the last four of the women’s singles was Serena Williams of the United States. The 37-year-old veteran is looking for her eighth singles title and seventh doubles trophy at the All England Club.

Williams won over her compatriot Alison Riske 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to reach her 12th Wimbledon semifinal, serving out the win with an ace.

“I had to just button up and play hard,” Williams said. “She was playing her heart out.”

A few hours later, Williams was back out on center court to compete in mixed doubles with Andy Murray. The pair beat Fabrice Martin and Raquel Atawo 7-5, 6-3 to reach the third round.

Despite recovering well from a hip complaint to show well in the mixed doubles, Britain’s former world No. 1 Murray said that it was unlikely that he would return to singles action in the near future.

“The amount of work I need to put in off the court to get myself strong enough to play best-of-five sets, it’s still quite a way away, unfortunately,” Murray said.

After undergoing successful hip surgery, the 32-year-old said: “I don’t want to be having to go through another big operation in a few years’ time.”

(Xinhua)