Chinese doubles specialist targeting spot at Olympics to cap eventful year

It's been a roller-coaster 2019 so far for Chinese player Duan Yingying.

The 30-year-old was sidelined for three months at the start of the year with illness but bounced back brilliantly to reach June's French Open doubles final. Next on the agenda for the Tianjin native is trying to secure a spot in the doubles competition of the Tokyo Olympics.

She and partner Zheng Saisai failed to advance that cause at this week's ICBC Credit Card Zhengzhou Open, where they lost 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 to Dutch duo Lesley Kerkhove and Bibiane Schoofs in the first round on Wednesday. However, they are still confident of booking their Tokyo ticket.

"I used to focus more on singles, but my singles ranking dropped dramatically given that I could not play for months because of illness earlier this year," said Duan, who is ranked 21st in the world in doubles but is down to No 323 in singles.

"My partner and I are preparing for the doubles competition of next year's Olympics. So as long as we can play and win more matches, we can earn higher rankings to win a ticket to the Games. Hopefully, we can make it."

Right now, Duan is just thankful to be back on court after being forced to watch matches from her sickbed at the start of the year.

"Getting back to peak condition has been an extremely tough task because I did not play or practice for three months," said Duan, who returned to action in early April. "I can still remember my first match, which was also in Zhengzhou. I could barely breathe just half an hour into the match."

That made her and Zheng's run to the final at Roland Garros in June even more commendable, when they were defeated by Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic.

The Chinese pair also reached last week's US Open quarterfinals.

"Honestly speaking, we only decided to team up to play the French Open a very short time before the registration deadline, so actually we did not have any pressure," said Duan.

"Zheng is a very flexible player with great skills. We tried our best in each match, but it was truly unexpected that we would have such a deep run in a Grand Slam."

Zheng was the only Chinese to survive the first round of the singles in Zhengzhou this week, by overcoming Schoofs. World No 38 Zheng won last year's tournament, when it was a lesser-rated 125K-level event. However, she's keeping her expectations in check for this year's Premier 700 tournament, which has attracted a much tougher field.

"After the US Open we didn't have too much time to prepare as we came to Zhengzhou right after," said Zheng. "It's a tight schedule. I hadn't played a singles match for a long time, so I'm still finding my pace."

The biggest news in women's tennis this year was arguably Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu's stunning victory over 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in last week's US Open final. Duan, though, was not surprised by the 19-year-old's breakthrough.

"I was not shocked by the result, because I played against Andreescu last year," said Duan. "Her skills and physical condition impressed me then. I told my friend that this youngster will have a big future. I just didn't expect it would happen so quick."

Duan reckons it might not be too long before Chinese fans are cheering on an Andreescu of their own. She credits the increase in both the quantity (nine) and quality of WTA events being staged in China as helping to develop the nation's young talent.

"The young Chinese players can now play all these high-level WTA tournaments in China, which was unthinkable when I started my career," said Duan. "Although we are still waiting for the next Chinese superstar, the overall strength of Chinese tennis has improved. We're seeing a group of young Chinese talent growing and about to bloom."