The seventh-seeded Peng Shuai of China failed to advance to the semifinal stage of an ITF women's tennis tournament ($50,000 Zhengzhou) after the fourth-seeded Lu Jingjing defeated her in the quarterfinal round on Friday.

Peng bowed out to her compatriot in a hard fought 6-7(11) 7-6(3) 6-3 loss.

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According to Xinhua, the two-time Grand Slam doubles champion, and 2014 U.S. Open singles semifinalist got a good start at 3-0 before Lu managed to even the game at six-all for the tiebreaker, which Peng won 13-11.

Lu won the second set, which also evolved into another tiebreaker. The 27-year-old world No. 233 forced the decisive set where she prevailed and claimed the match 6-3.

The Xiangtan, Hunan native underwent a series of back surgeries last year and saw her world ranking fall to 281 in singles and 287 in doubles.

In March this year, Peng made a return to WTA games. But the beginning of her 2016 campaign went unsuccessful as she lost in both her Miami Masters singles and doubles in the second round. The Chinese tennis ace headed to Charleston, United States for the Volvo Cars Open this April. However, the former world No. 1 doubles player failed to win in the first round of the US$753,000.00 tennis event.

Peng, who represented China at the 2012 Summer Olympics, then turned to ITF events. The 30-year-old right-handed player reached the final round of an ITF event in Kunming, China, early this month. But due to her aching back that bothering her, Peng was forced to withdraw from the middle of the action.

Peng, who reached her career-high singles ranking as world No. 14 on August 22, 2011, is now the symbol of Chinese women's tennis since fellow "Golden Flower" Li Na retired with two Grand Slam titles.

TagsITF, Peng Shuai, 2012 Olympics, Rio 2016, Lu jingjing, li na