The North American hard court season has already seen a whole host of record-breaking moments and shock defeats.
Often a brutal reality check for many players, the switch to he hard courts has been uniquely challenging this year.
With the Olympics slotting in between Wimbledon and the Toronto and Montreal Open’s, a handful of players have already struggled with the swift surface changes, including Daniil Medvedev and Coco Gauff.
The shine of Alexei Popyrin’s record-breaking win in Montreal was quickly tampered with after he lost in his opening round match to Gael Monfils.
However, it was on a half-full Court 10 where a truly astonishing record was broken.
Zhang Shuai breaks 24-year-old record after losing her 22nd match in a row
After Diana Shnaider beat Zhang Shuai in the opening round of Cincinnati, it condemned the Chinese former world number 22 to, coincidentally her 22nd straight singles defeat.
Between February 2023 and August of this year, Zhang hasn’t won a singles match, with her last victory coming against Madison Brengle.
America’s retired Vince Spadea, the previous record holder with 21 straight losses will be thrilled to see his streak no longer on top.
Interestingly, Spadea never took any time off during his streak, so it was just relentless losing.
Zhang however lost 16 in a row, before giving herself six months off to then come back and lose six more.
It hasn’t just been utter doom and gloom however with Zhang having still won a number of doubles matches in that time, with the Chinese player having won two major doubles titles in her career.
How was Zhang Shuai able to play at Cincinnati despite having no recent wins?
Currently Zhang has a live ranking of 685th in singles, with her doubles ranking still relatively high at 63rd.
Many have therefore probed exactly how Zhang could possibly have continued to access WTA Tour events, without winning a singles match.
She was out long enough that her Protected Ranking (PR) grants her eligibility for eight tournaments, which includes two slams.
Having been given a wildcard in Dubai, Zhang then used her PR at Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Wimbledon, and Cincinnati.
She’s currently got one more 1000 event she cab play, one more slam, and one more tour level event left on her PR.
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