Olympic champion Zheng cruises past Arango to reach French Open third round
PARIS, May 28 — China's Zheng Qinwen powered past Colombia's Emiliana Arango to reach the third round of the French Open today 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 seed 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.
'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.
'I was really happy with my performance today.'
Next up will be Canada's 18-year-old qualifier Victoria Mboko after the world number 120 continued her impressive debut with a comfortable 6-4 6-4 win against Germany's Eva Lys.
Mboko is yet to drop a set through three rounds of qualifying and two in the main draw. — Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- Malay Mail
Man arrested in France after Quran stolen, burned outside Lyon mosque
LYON, June 4 — A man suspected of stealing a Quran from a mosque near the French city of Lyon and then burning it was arrested on Tuesday evening, the public prosecutor's office said. He was arrested in the town of Villeurbanne, where the mosque was also located, and is said to be 'psychologically fragile', the prosecutor's office and a police source told AFP. On the night of Sunday to Monday, 'an individual with an uncovered face entered the prayer room, grabbed a copy of the Quran, set it on fire then dropped it outside the building before fleeing', the council of mosques in the Rhone region said. A police source said an investigation had begun into the incident. The Lyon prosecutor's office told AFP that police were looking into a case of 'damage or deterioration by means dangerous to people, committed on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nation or religion'. The incident came after a man who had posted racist videos shot dead his Tunisian neighbour and badly wounded a Turkish man in the southern town of Puget-sur-Argens on Saturday. The suspected killer, a Frenchman born in 1971, fled the scene in a car but was arrested not far away after his partner alerted police. According to Le Parisien newspaper, the suspect said he 'swore allegiance to the French flag' and called on the French to 'shoot' people of foreign origin in one of his videos posted on social media. Anti-terrorism prosecutors have taken over the investigation into the case, the first such racist attack linked to the far right to be dealt with as 'terrorism' since their office was set up in 2019. In a separate incident in April, a man stabbed a Malian man to death in a mosque, a case being handled by regional prosecutors. France is home to the largest Muslim community in the European Union, as well as the largest Jewish population outside Israel and the United States. There has also been a rise in reported attacks against members of France's Jewish community since Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 and the Israeli military responded with a devastating military offensive on the Gaza Strip. France's Holocaust memorial and three Paris synagogues and a restaurant were vandalised with paint overnight on Saturday. A Turkish-born man who burned a Quran in London was on Monday found guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence. Sweden has seen a series of burnings of the Islamic holy book, most notably by Iraqi Christian Salwan Momika. He was shot dead in January. — AFP
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Swiatek and Sabalenka set up French Open semi-final clash as Alcaraz sweeps through
THREE -time defending champion Iga Swiatek set up a blockbuster French Open semi-final clash with world number one Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday, as reigning men's holder Carlos Alcaraz powered his way into the last four. Alcaraz blew away American 12th seed Tommy Paul for the loss of just five games in the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier. The Spaniard needed just one hour 34 minutes to dismantle Paul 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 and set up a last-four meeting with Italy's Lorenzo Musetti. 'I'm sorry you wanted to watch more tennis, I had to do my work,' Alcaraz told the crowd. 'It was one of those matches where I could close my eyes and everything went in. It was like my feeling today was unbelievable.' Earlier, Swiatek, the fifth seed, got past Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-1, 7-5, after top women's seed Sabalenka won a tense quarter-final against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 7-6 (7/3), 6-3. World number five Swiatek has been struggling for her best form and has not reached a final since winning the French Open title last year. But she gave 13th seed Svitolina little opportunity on her favoured clay surface, breaking in the fourth game to ease through the first set, in windy conditions on Court Philippe Chatrier. The pair exchanged consecutive breaks of serve early in the second set, before Swiatek forced the breakthrough at 5-5 with a powerful forehand down the line. She then sealed the win with back-to-back aces. 'Even though the first set, the score looks pretty straightforward, it wasn't,' said Swiatek. 'I had to fight for every point.' Alcaraz-Musetti rematch Swiatek is aiming to become the first woman to win four straight Roland Garros crowns since Suzanne Lenglen 102 years ago. '(Aryna) has been having a great season so I'm not going to lie, it is going to be a tough match. But I'm happy for the challenge,' said Swiatek, after reeling off her 26th win in a row at the French Open. Both players have shared the number one ranking between them since April 2022. Sabalenka ended Swiatek's 11-month reign as world number one last October but the Pole leads 8-4 in their previous meetings. Earlier, reigning US Open champion Sabalenka avenged her recent loss to Zheng in Rome. 'The last tournament I was pretty exhausted,' said Sabalenka. 'Today I was more fresh, I was ready to battle.' Sabalenka once again got the upper hand over Zheng, who had been on a winning streak of 10 matches on the Paris clay after her run to Olympic gold last year. Zheng broke and led 4-2 in the first set. But numerous unforced errors -- 31 in total -- allowed the Belarusian to come back. 'I gave her the chance, so easy,' said Zheng, who has lost seven times in eight meetings with Sabalenka, including in last year's Australian Open final. Madrid Open champion Sabalenka feels she is ready to go all the way in Paris, where her previous best was the semi-finals two years ago. 'It's high-level matches. I'm super excited to go out there and to fight and to do everything I need to get the win,' said Sabalenka. Alcaraz, 22, dispatched former world number nine Paul after Musetti had earlier seen off Paul's 15th seeded compatriot Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. The second seed hit 40 winners and made just 22 unforced errors against Paul, who he also beat on his way to silver at the Paris Olympics last year. Eighth seed Musetti, 23, took over two hours 45 minutes to get past Tiafoe and qualify for his second Grand Slam semi-final, after Wimbledon last year. Musetti's serve proved to be a major weapon on the day as he fired down eight aces with an 81 percent success rate on his first serve. He also saved two of the three break points engineered by Tiafoe, who had 51 unforced errors to the Italian's 32. It will be the third time Alcaraz and Musetti meet this clay-court season. Alcaraz has dominated that series -- beating the Italian in the final in Monte Carlo before also stopping him in the last four on his way to the Rome title.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Swiatek and Sabalenka set up French Open semi-final
THREE-time defending champion Iga Swiatek set up a blockbuster French Open semi-final clash with world number one Aryna Sabalenka on Tuesday, as reigning men's holder Carlos Alcaraz powered his way into the last four. Alcaraz blew away American 12th seed Tommy Paul for the loss of just five games in the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier. The Spaniard needed just one hour 34 minutes to dismantle Paul 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 and set up a last-four meeting with Italy's Lorenzo Musetti. 'I'm sorry you wanted to watch more tennis, I had to do my work,' Alcaraz told the crowd. 'It was one of those matches where I could close my eyes and everything went in. It was like my feeling today was unbelievable.' Earlier, Swiatek, the fifth seed, got past Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-1, 7-5, after top women's seed Sabalenka won a tense quarter-final against Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 7-6 (7/3), 6-3. World number five Swiatek has been struggling for her best form and has not reached a final since winning the French Open title last year. But she gave 13th seed Svitolina little opportunity on her favoured clay surface, breaking in the fourth game to ease through the first set, in windy conditions on Court Philippe Chatrier. The pair exchanged consecutive breaks of serve early in the second set, before Swiatek forced the breakthrough at 5-5 with a powerful forehand down the line. She then sealed the win with back-to-back aces. 'Even though the first set, the score looks pretty straightforward, it wasn't,' said Swiatek. 'I had to fight for every point.' Alcaraz-Musetti rematch Swiatek is aiming to become the first woman to win four straight Roland Garros crowns since Suzanne Lenglen 102 years ago. '(Aryna) has been having a great season so I'm not going to lie, it is going to be a tough match. But I'm happy for the challenge,' said Swiatek, after reeling off her 26th win in a row at the French Open. Both players have shared the number one ranking between them since April 2022. Sabalenka ended Swiatek's 11-month reign as world number one last October but the Pole leads 8-4 in their previous meetings. Earlier, reigning US Open champion Sabalenka avenged her recent loss to Zheng in Rome. 'The last tournament I was pretty exhausted,' said Sabalenka. 'Today I was more fresh, I was ready to battle.' Sabalenka once again got the upper hand over Zheng, who had been on a winning streak of 10 matches on the Paris clay after her run to Olympic gold last year. Zheng broke and led 4-2 in the first set. But numerous unforced errors -- 31 in total -- allowed the Belarusian to come back. 'I gave her the chance, so easy,' said Zheng, who has lost seven times in eight meetings with Sabalenka, including in last year's Australian Open final. Madrid Open champion Sabalenka feels she is ready to go all the way in Paris, where her previous best was the semi-finals two years ago. 'It's high-level matches. I'm super excited to go out there and to fight and to do everything I need to get the win,' said Sabalenka. Alcaraz, 22, dispatched former world number nine Paul after Musetti had earlier seen off Paul's 15th seeded compatriot Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. The second seed hit 40 winners and made just 22 unforced errors against Paul, who he also beat on his way to silver at the Paris Olympics last year. Eighth seed Musetti, 23, took over two hours 45 minutes to get past Tiafoe and qualify for his second Grand Slam semi-final, after Wimbledon last year. Musetti's serve proved to be a major weapon on the day as he fired down eight aces with an 81 percent success rate on his first serve. He also saved two of the three break points engineered by Tiafoe, who had 51 unforced errors to the Italian's 32. It will be the third time Alcaraz and Musetti meet this clay-court season. Alcaraz has dominated that series -- beating the Italian in the final in Monte Carlo before also stopping him in the last four on his way to the Rome title.
