World No. 1 Iga Swiatek admitted she felt she was in trouble versus Zheng Qinwen and added she was glad that she was able to respond in a strong way. Top-seeded Swiatek was down by a set to rising Chinese star Zheng but impressively recovered to win 6-7 (5) 6-0 6-2 and advance to the French Open quarterfinal.
Swiatek was twice up by a break in the first set but Zheng twice recovered and the first set went into a tie-break. Swiatek missed out on three set points on her service in the ninth game, before failing to convert two more set points in the 12th game.
Even after missing out on five set points, Swiatek had a great chance to win the first set as she was 5-2 up in the tie-break. Swiatek then suffered a collapse as Zheng won the following five points and stole the first set.
Swiatek responded impressively to losing the first set as she won the next eight games to take a 6-7 (5) 6-0 2-0 lead. Swiatek collected her second break of the third set in the seventh game and served out for the match in the following game.
Swiatek: I was in trouble, happy how I responded
“I tried to loosen up my hand a little bit. She played really good tennis with heavy topspins. The key in the second set was kind of not letting her do that again. I’m pretty happy that I could play a little bit faster and put pressure on her.
I felt like I was a little bit in trouble, and I was able to come back and really refocus and find other solutions, so that’s great,” Swiatek said, per the WTA website. Swiatek remains unbeaten this clay season as now she has won her last 32 matches.
Swiatek plays next Jessica Pegula, who defeated Irina Begu in the French Open last-16. The head-to-head versus Swiatek and Pegula stands at 1-1. Pegula beat Swiatek when they first met in 2019, while the Pole beat the American when they met two months ago in Miami.
