World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka continues to dominate in Grand Slam tournaments, recently making it to the French Open quarterfinals. But women's tennis at Roland-Garros has a lot more interesting storylines to offer.
For one, Sabalenka's next opponent, World No. 7 Qinwen Zheng, just made history in the competition following her Round of 16 win on Sunday.
Zheng beat No. 19 seed Liudmila Samsonova in a thrilling three-set affair, 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-3. The match lasted for 2 hours and 47 minutes, with both Top 20 players refusing to give up.
With the victory, Zheng became just the second Chinese player in the Open Era to reach the quarterfinals of the French Open. Li Na did it first in 2011 when she went all the way to the finals and won the clay Grand Slam.
Roland-Garros' official social media accounts made the announcement following her win, stating in the caption: "Qinwen Zheng becoming the second Chinese player in the open era to reach the women's singles quarter-finals at Roland-Garros had to be our Stat of the Day by @Infosys."
Sure enough, it will be interesting to see if Zheng Qinwen will be able to replicate Li Na's success in the French Open. Facing Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals is a tough challenge, but it's worth noting that the Chinese star defeated the Belarusian top seed in their last meeting on the clay court at last month's Rome Open.
For now, though, Zheng is simply relishing the history she made and her first quarterfinals at Roland-Garros.
"I am super happy, honestly," Zheng shared after Sunday's victory, per WTA. "There is not many words that can describe my emotions, because I've been trying every year, and that's the real first time for me to be in quarterfinals in Roland Garros."
