French Open: Swiatek defeats China’s Zheng to enter quarterfinals
Paris: The loss of one set by a player is normally not the stuff of headlines at a Grand Slam tournament. That did constitute news at the French Open, because the player was No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek and it had been more than a month since that happened to her. The way it came about […]
Paris: The loss of one set by a player is normally not the stuff of headlines at a Grand Slam tournament. That did constitute news at the French Open, because the player was No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek and it had been more than a month since that happened to her.
The way it came about was noteworthy, too: She led the first set of her fourth-round match against 74th-ranked Zheng Qinwen of China 3-0, then 5-2, and was a point from claiming it on five occasions but could not seal the deal. Swiatek entered the day having won 20 sets in a row, and 48 of her preceding 49.
All that truly mattered, in the end, was that 2020 champion Swiatek would not lose another set on this cloudy evening, getting past the hard-swinging Zheng 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-2 to return to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and run her winning streak to 32 consecutive matches.
Next to try to stop Swiatek will be 11th-seeded Jessica Pegula, who advanced to her third major quarterfinal and first in Paris — with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania, who was fined $10,000 last week when she threw her racket and it bounced into the stands, brushing a child in a front-row seat.
A red-hot Marin Cilic of Croatia powered into the French Open quarterfinal with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Medvedev on Court Phillippe Chatrier, leaving the Russian’s hopes of becoming world No. 1 at the end of the clay-court major in tatters. Cilic will face another Russian, Andrey Rublev, for a place in the semifinal.
The other women’s quarterfinal Wednesday will be between two Russians: No. 20 Daria Kasatkina and No. 29 Veronika Kudermetova.
The most-anticipated men’s quarterfinal will be the 59th career meeting between defending champion Novak Djokovic and 13-time champion Rafael Nadal on Tuesday night. Also Tuesday, No. 3 Alexander Zverev plays No. 6 Carlos Alcaraz, a 19-year-old from Spain. Men’s matches Wednesday Holger Rune, a 19-year-old from Denmark, against No. 8 Casper Ruud, a 23-year-old from Norway.
With Rune, who eliminated 2021 runner-up Tsitsipas 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Alcaraz still in the field, it’s the first time in 28 years that two teens made the men’s quarterfinals at any Grand Slam tournament.
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