London, June 15 (IANS) China’s Zheng Qinwen battled back from a set down to defeat sixth-seeded Maria Sakkari of Greece 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 at the WTA 250 Nottingham Open in London on Monday, claiming her first grass-court win of the season.

The victory marked a positive start to Zheng’s grass-court campaign after a first-round exit at the French Open earlier this month.

“It was a really difficult match,” Zheng said after the contest. “We both played at a high level, and the score was close throughout. I’m happy to win those important points because I wasn’t able to do that in the last tournament, and I managed to do it today.”

The past two seasons have been challenging for Zheng, who has struggled with injuries and undergone surgery. Zheng said she was sidelined for nearly eight months last year and initially put too much pressure on herself after returning to competition, reports Xinhua.

“I missed almost eight months last year,” she said. “I had a lot of pressure at the beginning when I started trying to come back. I wanted to do more and do better, but somehow I wasn’t able to deal with that pressure. Right now, I tell myself, ‘OK, I’m around No. 160 in the world. How could it get any worse?’ Let’s just keep fighting as I did at the beginning, when I had nothing.”

Zheng, the 23-year-old Chinese who resides in Barcelona, Spain, added that she plans to focus on one match at a time during the grass-court season.

“On grass, anything can happen, and it’s not an easy surface for me,” she said. “I just hope I can enjoy tennis more and enjoy every competition because I really love playing here. Let’s see how I do in the next match,” added the right-handed player with a two-handed backhand.

Zheng will next face the winner of the match between Australia’s Talia Gibson and Britain’s Francesca Jones.

–IANS

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