SYDNEY, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- With a strong contingency of Chinese tennis stars ready to take on the world's best at this year's Australian Open, two players made it through to the second round of the tournament at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.
Looking sharp, Wang Qiang booked her ticket to the next stage with a superb performance against French hitter Fiona Ferro, taking the match in straight sets, 6-4. 6-3.
Things were a little more difficult for 2016 tournament quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai, though she eventually progressed against her gritty Slovakian opponent, Dominika Cibulkova.
After dropping the second set, Zhang recovered in the third to claim the win 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Although she fought hard, young talent Zheng Saisai found things difficult against two-time Grand Slam winner Garbine Muguruza, going down 6-2, 6-3 to the Spaniard.
"She did not give me many chances with her serve so that put a lot of pressure on my service game," Zheng told Xinhua after the match.
"She is good with her backhands and I hit back too much into her backhand. Next time I play her, I will try to hit more into her forehand."
The 24-year-old added that "the result is not a big deal, the most important thing is your health."
"So long as your body doesn't hurt, and you can make improvements every day, you will see rewards."
"I will also keep learning. No matter winning or losing, it is a lesson and you need to learn a lot of things, not only tennis."
In other contests, crafty veteran Peng Shuai wasn't able to find her rhythm against power-hitter Eugenie Bouchard, going down to the Canadian 6-2, 6-1, and Zhu Lin battled hard against Russia's Margarita Gasparyan in a gripping three-set thriller, eventually losing out 6-4, 2-6, 2-6.
In the men's bracket, Li Zhe didn't quite have enough to get past Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber with a final score of 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.
In total, there are three Chinese singles players through to the second round, with Wang Qiang and Zhang Shuai joined by Wang Yafan, who won her first round match on Monday.