PARIS, May 21-- There were mixed fortunes for China's women in the opening round of tennis' French Open qualifiers here on Tuesday, as Xu Shilin and Zhang Kailin marched on, while veteran Peng Shuai suffered an agonizing three-set loss. Xu and her Swiss opponent, fourth seed Stefanie Voegele, traded early breaks after six games, before Xu had another break in the 10th game for a 6-4 victory in the opening set. But Voegele improved her level of play in the following set to force a decider at 6-2. Dissatisfied with her returns, Xu hit her racket onto the ground after the sixth game when the two players were level at 3-3. Xu's fifth break of the match arrived in the eighth game, which proved decisive for her victory. She sealed a second round spot with a backhand on the second match point at 5-3. "I did well today, but made too many mistakes at the start," admitted Xu. "As I have practiced both smashes and spins a lot, I need to adjust between them on court." Xu added that playing on different surfaces was no problem for her, saying she can learn something and gain experience from every match regardless of the surface. Meanwhile, Zhang Kailin also advanced to the second round, defeating her Croatian opponent Tereza Mrdeza 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 29 minutes. Coming back from knee surgery after the Australian Open, 137th-ranked Peng Shuai was seen with heavy bandages on her right knee. |