China clinch all golds in tennis at Military World Games

Team China clinched all four gold medals on offer in tennis at the Military World Games on Saturday in Wuhan, China.

Chinese gold medalist Han Xinyun (C), Uzbek silver medalist Sabina Sharipova (L) and Polish bronze medalist Marta Lesniak pose for a group photo at the award ceremony after the tennis women’s singles final at the 7th Military World Games in Wuhan. [Photo provided to China Plus]

China's Han Xinyun beat Sabina Sharipova of Uzbekistan in the women's singles final to start China's gold medal haul.

The 29-year-old eased to the first set victory, breaking three times en route to a 6-1 win.

However, she met strong resistance in the second set. The two players broke each of the opponent's first serve at 1-1.

In the nail-biting third game at Sharipova's serve, the two players exchanged the lead back and forth at 40-40, before Han finally converted her fourth breaking point and won.

Sharipova then showed strong pace and broke twice to bring it to 5-2.

In the set-winning serve however, the Uzbekistan player made two unforced errors and got broken. Han bounced back and forced a tiebreak with the home fans' cheering her on.

Sharipova didn't get affected by Han's comeback, making solid base line shots to take the second set through tiebreak and tie the match.

The deciding third set turned out to be a totally lopsided affair as Han made four consecutive breaks to win 6-0 and prevailed in battle for the gold medal.

"She really found her rhythm in the second set and pushed me to the limit,"Han said after the match, "though the home fans gave me much encouragement whenever I was fall behind. Their support really helped me."

Han's victory helped Team China secure all the gold medals on offer in tennis at the Military World Games, as the rest of the finals were all-Chinese competitions.

In the men's final, Zhang Zhizhen beat fellow Chinese Wu Di in straight sets to take the gold.

China also collected golds in the men's and women's doubles as well as the mixed doubles.