China’s Qinwen Zheng survived her third consecutive three-set match on Monday, defeating No. 18 seed Marie Bouzkova to reach the Round of 16 at the China Open.
A wild-card entry in Beijing, Zheng outlasted her Czech opponent 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 54 minutes. She has already played a total of eight hours in the WTA 1000 tournament.
“I just think I believe here everybody wants to take me down,” Zheng told reporters. “They really show up (with) their best tennis. I believe somehow they prove that the level was really high.”
Of her 21 wins this season on the WTA Tour, 13 have gone to deciding sets. Zheng closed out the match with the only service break of the third set. She finished with 11 aces and won four of 12 break points.
Zheng reached the fourth round of her home event for the first time since 2024.
“Of course, I’m really happy to win because I felt like maybe (the opponent) plays without pressure, but I felt I really play with lot of pressure because I want to perform well in front of my home crowd,” Zheng said. “This gives me energy, but in the same time I believe maybe I should be a bit more chill, more relax on court, especially when I’m leading 3-1 in the first set.”
She will next face Armenia’s Alina Charaeva, who followed up her upset of World No. 1 Elena Rybakina with a 6-4, 6-1 victory Monday against Britain’s Sonay Kartal.
No. 3 Coco Gauff advanced with a 7-5, 6-1 third-round win against China’s Xinran Sun in 89 minutes. No. 6 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine ousted No. 25 Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-4, 7-5. No. 21 Ann Li eliminated No. 9 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-4, 6-3. No. 10 Iva Jovic defeated Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 7-5. No. 13 Elise Mertens of Belgium outlasted No. 24 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Eighth-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland rallied from 6-4, 5-2 down to stun No. 30 Donna Vekic of Croatia, finishing the 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2 victory in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
“For sure I was in a bad position score-wise, didn’t really know after the first set what to change to play better,” Swiatek said. “Later on in the second set I was playing more brave and more aggressive, changing more down the line. At the end I think it’s what changed the rhythm of the match.”
Swiatek, the 2023 champion, will face Jovic in the fourth round.
–Field Level Media
