Chinese Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen powers into French Open third round
China's Zheng Qinwen powered past Colombia's Emiliana Arango to reach the third round of the French Open on Wednesday as the Olympic champion again showed her liking for Parisian clay.
The 22-year-old swept to the Olympic title at Roland Garros last August and her 6-2, 6-3 victory over Arango underlined why she is being tipped to win her first grand slam.
On cool and drizzly Court Suzanne Lenglen, eighth-seeded Zheng had too much firepower for her tricky 85th-ranked opponent, breaking serve at will during an impressive performance.
It was not all perfect though, with Zheng dropping serve in the opening game of the match and then twice in succession early in the second set as Arango began to extend the rallies and test the patience of her opponent.
But Zheng, the only Chinese player in the second round, remained focused to reach round three at the French Open for the third time in four appearances.
Emiliana Arango broke Zheng's serve twice early in the second set. Photo: EPA-EFE
'It's not easy to play her, she put every ball back,' Zheng, runner-up at the 2024 Australian Open, said on court. 'It was not easy to finish the points.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
‘Man mums' in China sell 5-minute hugs for US$7, gain popularity among lonely women
A growing number of young women in China are shelling out 50 yuan (US$7) for five-minute stress-relieving hugs from 'man mums'. Advertisement The so-called man mums are a trending group on mainland social media. The term originally described muscular gym-goers but it now refers to men who combine physical strength with traditionally feminine traits like gentleness and patience. A stressed-out student recently posted online that she wanted to pay for a hug from a kind, fit 'man mum' to cope with thesis pressure. 'I was hugged once in secondary school and felt safe. We can just hug for five minutes at an underground station,' she wrote. One woman said she wanted a hug from a kind, fit man to cope with the stress of her studies. Photo: The post went viral, racking up more than 100,000 comments.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Porn sites block access in France in protest against new restrictions
From Wednesday, people in France will no longer be able to access pornography on several major sites – at least temporarily. Aylo, the company behind Pornhub, Redtube and Youporn, had plans to block content from the afternoon onwards in protest at new French age verification regulations, local media reports said on Tuesday. Instead of porn, the company will only display a statement on the new regulations in the country. Figures from the French digital regulatory authority Arcom from 2023 suggest 2.3 million minors visited porn sites every month, accounting for 12 per cent of the total number of users in the country. To better protect minors, the platforms are to create stricter control mechanisms. Simply clicking that you are over 18 will no longer be enough. To maintain anonymity, external sites will verify the age of users. The porn sites will then only receive confirmation that the person is of legal age and will not know their identity. The external service provider will know the identity of the user but not the reason for the age check.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Beijing's point man overseeing Hong Kong affairs ‘set to visit city in mid-June'
Beijing's point man overseeing Hong Kong affairs is set to visit the city later this month as it marks the fifth anniversary of the imposition of the national security law and he will speak on the occasion, the Post has learned. Advertisement Sources told the Post that Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO), was planning a visit to the city and was likely to attend a national security legal forum organised by the Department of Justice and scheduled for June 21. 'The authorities have been working on Xia's itinerary. An option is to inspect the progress of the Northern Metropolis, ' an insider said on Tuesday, referring to the megadevelopment which involves turning 30,000 hectares of land near the city's border with mainland China into an economic powerhouse and a housing hub. Xia's scheduled visit will come three weeks after Beijing appointed Zhou Ji as the new director of its liaison office in Hong Kong, replacing Zheng Yanxiong who was in the role for 2½ years, with analysts deeming the reshuffle a sign of shifting priorities to focus more on economic development amid a challenging geopolitical environment. John Lee (left) and Xia Baolong visit the West Kowloon Cultural District in February last year. Photo: Elson Li The occasion Xia is expected to speak at is an annual legal forum to mark the anniversary of the Beijing-imposed security law enacted in 2020 after months of anti-government protests , aimed at preventing, stopping and punishing secession, subversion of state power, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.
