WUHAN — China's Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen said on Tuesday she was "feeling the responsibility" as the new face of Chinese tennis and admitted she needed to find a way to handle the pressure.

Zheng shot to superstar status in her home country after reaching the Australian Open final and winning Paris gold this year.

"There are a lot of activities for me, but I enjoy it. Especially I saw there are pictures of me everywhere. I mean, yes, that's insane," said Zheng, who turned 22 on Tuesday.

"People have big expectations of me here. I hope I could stay here longer. But tennis is always tough to predict.

"Of course, there is pressure. I'm also feeling the responsibility as a leader of the new generation, meaning what you are saying is under public scrutiny."

After a first-round bye, fifth seed Zheng was set to play Romania's Jaqueline Cristian in the second round on Wednesday.

After snapping a 24-match losing streak at the China Open last week, Zhang Shuai's change of fortune turned in Wuhan as she lost to Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4 in the first round.

Meanwhile, world No 4 Coco Gauff said on Tuesday that everyone should accept the roller-coaster nature of tennis, as she responded to criticism of her results this season.

Gauff claimed what she described as an "unexpected" title at the China Open in Beijing last week and is on the cusp of securing her qualification for the season-ending WTA Finals for a third consecutive year.

Despite reaching two Grand Slam semifinals and winning two titles this year, the 20-year-old Gauff has been under scrutiny, especially after her unsuccessful US Open defense last month.

"People don't realize people have great moments in sports and bad moments," Gauff told reporters at the Wuhan Open, where she played Viktoriya Tomova in the second round on Wednesday.

"It doesn't mean anything. I took inspiration from A'ja Wilson," she said, referring to the Las Vegas Aces back-to-back basketball WNBA champion.

"She's kind of like, 'It's hard to stay winning all the time. You need to go through losses to realize what you need to do to evolve'.

"Tennis fans need to be more accepting of that," said Gauff.

Badosa out

Former world No 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week's Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photo.

Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.

Media outlets including Britain's The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported earlier that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes.

The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semifinals of the China Open, and was posted online by her coach Pol Toledo.

It sparked a social media uproar and has since been deleted.

The world No 15 apologized for her behavior in a post on social media platform X on Monday.

"Hey guys! Really sorry didn't know this was offensive towards racism. My mistake," she wrote.

"I take full responsibility. These mistakes will make me learn for next time. Hope you understand."

AFP