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China's No.1 Crashes Out in Men's Tennis Singles at Universiade
China's No.1 male tennis player Zhu Benqiang was eliminated in a three-hour marathon quarterfinal match 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (3-7) by Swiss 12-seeded Matthieu Amgwerd Tuesday afternoon.
Zhu, seeded fourth, had a three-hour match Monday afternoon against Japanese player Mnorikazu Sugiyama, the 13th seed. Zhu beat Sugiyama 7-6, 6-4 in the scorching heat, but suffered two clonus which interrupted the match for a while.
During today's intense match, both Amgwerd, ranked 975th, and Zhu, rated 540th, served and stroke hard, and hundreds of enthusiastic Chinese and foreign spectators saw several aces and many more-than-ten-bout rallies.
Three serves were broken in a row, two for Amgwerd, when the second set began, and the home crowd's encouragement help Zhu tie the set points.
In the deciding third match which saw the breaking of two serves from each side, Zhu ran to the net many times in a bid to win quickly but made few successful volleys, and ever sank into the dangerous situation of 2-5.
The most dramatic scene appeared when the set points were 5-4 and the game scores were 40-30 in favor of Amgwerd, and Zhu cut a long ball to the baseline. Amgwerd rushed to the landing point of the ball but did not strike it. He raised his two arms, cheering his victory as he considered the ball out. But instead of congratulating Amgwerd, the referee said,"Deuce."
Amgwerd was so angry and upset that he threw away his racket. But he soon recovered and apologized for his improper action to the referee.
Although Zhu took advantage of Amgwerd's unstable sentiment to make a lead 6-5 in set points and 40-30 in the game scores, he missed a spiking high ball and finally lost the whole match.
"I was so eager to win but did not play well," Zhu told reporters after the match. "I tried my best to strike balls as close to the lines as possible but made too many errors," he added.
"I should have won if I could keep calm," he admitted.
Amgwerd who was excited after the match told Xinhua that it is natural for the referees make several mistakes in a match, especially in such an intense competition with close goals.
"I just fight like a soldier and I feel very tired now," Amgwerd, a student of the New Mexico University of the United States, said.
The newly-built Muxiyuan Tennis Center, the tennis competition venue of the Universiade, witnessed a wonderful weather and crowded spectators on Tuesday.
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