No feet of clay for China's aces
China DailyChina's Zhang Zhizhen in action during his French Open first-round match against Australia's Aleksandar Vukic at Roland Garros on Sunday. "I still don't like the clay court, to be honest, because it's always so physically demanding playing on it," China's top men's ace Zhang Zhizhen said after edging out Australia's Aleksandar Vukic 3-1, getting his second major of the year off to a flying start. Also on Sunday, in the women's draw, three Chinese players Wang Yafan, Wang Xiyu and Wang Xinyu all pulled through their respective first-round tests at Roland Garros to prove their much improved competitiveness at the clay-court major, where women's legend Li Na won Asia's first singles Grand Slam title in 2011. Both matches bore witness to the closer gap between higher- and lower-ranked players on the clay court, which usually levels the playing field in today's quick-strike professional tennis.
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