Qinwen Zheng has reflected on her crushing loss to Elena Rybakina in the first round of the WTA China Open, revealing what she believes went wrong for her during the match.

The World No. 23 suffered a devastating defeat in front of her home crowd as she visibly struggled to get into the match against the World No. 5. Prior to this, the Chinese player had performed impressively at the US Open last month, ousting the likes of Ons Jabeur to reach the quarter-finals of the New York Grand Slam.

However, she was unable to put up a fight at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, with Rybakina dominating the match from start to finish to win 6-1, 6-2.

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Zheng explains reasons behind defeat

After the match, Zheng reflected on what caused such a defeat. The 20-year-old was insistent that it was not related to her painful split with coach Wim Fissette, who dropped her recently in favor of returning to work with Naomi Osaka, who is coming back to the WTA Tour in 2024.

"Indeed, I wasn't playing very well. 30% of my tennis. The rhythm of the ball I wasn't really grasping. It's completely different from previous matches.

"I'm playing in the evening. In previous events, I was playing during the day. It was only about me. It has nothing to do with the coach because I wasn't able to adjust to the rhythm. The opponent's serve was really powerful. That actually made me not able to adjust to the rhythm," Zheng said.

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"The return of that powerful serve was really, really difficult for me. I wasn't able to play as well against such powerful serves. I think I will take a break of two to three days, and back into practice. I think in the Asian Games, five days in a row, I was consuming a lot of energy," she continued.

Zheng aims to bounce back in Zhengzhou

Zheng will be preparing to compete at the WTA 250 Zhengzhou Open next week after taking a few days off to recover.

"Of course, we'll be in Zhengzhou. I will take a break of two days, trying to recuperate, then going back to practice. I have higher expectations in Zhengzhou because I did not have enough time to prepare for the China Open. It was really hard to do my best.

"My opponent's serves were really powerful, forcing me not really being able to get back into the rhythm. I hope I can do better in Zhengzhou," she said.