PARIS: World number one Iga Swiatek faces rising Chinese star Zheng Qinwen for a place in the French Open quarter-finals on Monday, while Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas continue their campaigns in the men’s draw.
Swiatek, the Roland Garros champion in 2020, is on a 31-match winning streak and bidding to reach the last eight for a third straight year.
“From my point of view, I don’t really mind the streak,” she said after her third-round win over Danka Kovinic.
“I’m just playing my tennis. I gain so much points this season already that I try to look at it from that perspective that I actually have nothing to lose here.”
Swiatek, who has won WTA 1,000 titles this season at Indian Wells, Miami and Rome, has not even dropped a set in her last nine matches.
But she may face a tougher test against Zheng who has knocked out former champion Simona Halep and home favourite Alize Cornet during her run to the fourth round.
The 19-year-old has won five second-tier ITF titles since the start of last year and has quickly climbed to 74th in the WTA rankings.
“I’m not really familiar (with Zheng), honestly,” said Swiatek of her upcoming opponent. “Because I didn’t watch a lot of tennis during the past couple of months, but I have heard some other players talking about her.”
Zheng was the only Chinese player to get past the first round and is bringing some joy to tennis fans back home, who have had little on court to cheer following the Covid pandemic and the Peng Shuai scandal.
“I have been prepared for this match, because I really want to play against her. So I’m excited for this match,” said Zheng after Cornet retired from their third-round meeting while trailing 6-0, 3-0.
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“I know what I can do and I have to be patient and to wait for the moment to come.”
Tsitsipas faces Danish teen
Tsitsipas, last year’s runner-up, takes on Holger Rune who has become the first Danish man to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam event since Kenneth Carlsen at the 1993 Australian Open.
Greek star Tsitsipas struggled past Lorenzo Musetti in five sets in his opening round before needing over four hours to beat Czech world number 134 Zdenek Kolar in four sets.
But he was back to his best in round three with a straight-sets demolition of Mikael Ymer.
Tsitsipas is still searching for a maiden major title, having blown a two-set lead to lose to Novak Djokovic in the 2021 final in Paris.
The 19-year-old Rune only made his Grand Slam debut at last year’s US Open, taking a set off Djokovic.
Monday’s night match on Court Philippe Chatrier sees world number two Daniil Medvedev play former US Open champion Marin Cilic.
His fellow Russians Veronika Kudermetova, Daria Kasatkina and Andrey Rublev are all also in action as they look to make a mark before missing out on Wimbledon after being banned over their country’s invasion of Ukraine.