Eighth seed Zheng Qinwen kicked off her French Open campaign in style on Sunday at Roland Garros, ousting Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-3. For the fourth consecutive year, Zheng advances to the second round in Paris.
Pavlyuchenkova, who reached the French Open final in 2021, took revenge for their only previous meeting in Cincinnati this year by starting strong. But Zheng raced to a 3-0 lead and, despite a brief Pavlyuchenkova rally to tie at 4-4, closed out the first set with back-to-back love games.
In the second set, Zheng struck first again, leading 3-1 after seizing the break. Pavlyuchenkova clawed back to 4-3 and even held two break points, but Zheng held firm, breaking back and serving out the match.
Next up for Zheng is Emiliana Arango of Colombia, setting the stage for another compelling showdown on the clay.
It wasn’t all smiles for the Chinese contingent on Sunday: Yuan Yue fell 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to No.4 seed Jasmine Paolini, while fellow teenager Wang Xinyu was due to meet former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu later in the day.
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Zheng Qinwen beats Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in French Open first round
cgtn.com
