Clara Tauson's terrible autumn form continued on Saturday morning as she crashed out of the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, where she was defeated by World No. 82, Zeynep Sonmez, 4-6, 6-2, 3-6
The defeat was a huge setback in relation to her ambitions of qualifying for the season-ending WTA Finals.
Tauson received medical attention along the way and only briefly showed her usual high level in the match.
22-year-old Tauson had a terrible start to the match. She didn't seem mentally present at all, wasn't moving well, and quickly fell behind 4-0.
With the scoreline 5-2 in Sonmez's favor, Tauson requested a medical timeout and indicated that she was having trouble breathing.
Tauson chose to continue and managed to reduce the deficit to 4-5. Tauson then led Sonmez's following service game 30-0, but the Turk still managed to clinch the first set as the Dane smashed a forehand wide.
Tauson was transformed from the start of the second set. Her serve started working, and this time it was the Dane who broke from the beginning and took a 3-0 lead.
The Dane played wisely, let her opponent make the mistakes, and had no trouble taking the set 6-2.
But Tauson couldn't hold on to the momentum. The Turk raised her level and took great initiative in the third set as Tauson's game fell apart again.
The Dane was broken for 1-2, and Sonmez followed up with another break when a terrific backhand winner gave her a 4-1 lead.
Tauson managed to break back to make it 3-5, but it was of little use as she subsequently lost her own serve.