Zheng outlasts Samsonova to make first French Open quarterfinal
No. 8 seed Zheng Qinwen is into the French Open quarterfinals for the first time after a 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-3 victory over No. 19 seed Liudmila Samsonova on Sunday. The grueling match ran 2 hours and 47 minutes.
Zheng has now won 10 straight matches at the Roland Garros site, going back to her gold-medal run last summer at the Olympic Games. Zheng is only the second Chinese player in the Open Era to reach the women’s quarterfinals at the French Open -- after 2011 champion Li Na.
"I am super happy, honestly," Zheng said afterwards. "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."
The 22-year-old will face World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a marquee quarterfinal. Sabalenka bested No. 16 seed Amanda Anisimova on Sunday.
Sabalenka defeated Zheng in their first six meetings, including the 2024 Australian Open final. However, Zheng finally got her first win over Sabalenka last month -- and on clay to boot, knocking the World No. 1 out of the Rome quarterfinals.
By the numbers: Zheng’s thumping serve rose to the occasion in the third set. Five of her 10 aces, and only one of her eight double faults, came in the final frame.
"I think [Samsonova] has a really fast game, one of the fastest forehands on tour," Zheng said. "Especially today, she played really well. She almost [didn't] miss any first serves. She had super-high first-serve percentage.
"It happens a lot times against her. Sometimes I win; sometimes I lost. Today the match was just, you know, fight. There's nothing more I can say."
In the last three years (since 2023, when she made her first in Rome), only Iga Swiatek (11) and Aryna Sabalenka (10) have made more WTA-level clay-court quarterfinals than Zheng’s eight.
Three-set showdown: This match had significant implications for both players. For Samsonova, it was the possibility of a first career Grand Slam quarterfinal, while Zheng was eyeing her first visit to the final eight at Roland Garros.
Samsonova came in with a 3-2 head-to-head advantage and a surge of momentum, having reached the final a week earlier in Strasbourg. And the 26-year-old has made a career of beating Top 10 players, compiling nine such wins, including a quarterfinal victory over No. 10 Paula Badosa in Strasbourg.
Two of the biggest hitters left in the draw battled and banged their way into a first-set tiebreak. Samsonova actually served for the set at 5-4, but a nervy missed dropshot got it back on serve.
In the tiebreak, Zheng put herself in a 2-3 hole with her fifth double fault of the set and, with a big serve, Samsonova ran out to a 4-2 lead. Two forehand misses evened the count and then, at 5-5, Zheng hit her best shot of the extra frame, a sweet-spinning forehand that found the deep corner. Another unforced forehand error gave her the set, a 75-minute affair.
Samsonova came right back, winning the first three games of the second set and coasting into the third set. Samsonova saved all seven break points against her in the second set -- and converted both chances against Zheng.
The final set progressed on pace until the sixth game. A big return gave Zheng a break point, but up to that point she had converted only two of 10. This time, however, a huge running forehand (and a yell to match) forced Samsonova to hit an errant backhand.
Zheng, serving at 4-2, gave the break right back. On Samsonova’s second break point, she hit a second serve that was called good, but the chair umpire scrambled down and overruled -- so an ace turned into a double fault and the match was back on serve.
But Samsonova was quickly broken in the subsequent game, and Zheng served for the match at 5-3. Samsonova had a makeable forehand on match point, but she sent it wide -- her 42nd unforced error of the match.
