French Open: Zhang feels he is ‘improving’ all the time after historic run in Paris; Swiatek hammers Wang
- Zhang Zhizhen loses in four sets to world No 4 Casper Ruud in third round at Roland Garros
- Women’s defending champion Swiatek takes just 51 minutes to dispose of Wang Xinyu
China’s interest in the men’s and women’s singles at the French Open is over, after Zhang Zhizhen fell to Casper Ruud and Wang Xinyu was hammered by Iga Swiatek.
Bidding to become the first Chinese player to reach the fourth round of the men’s singles since 1936, Zhang began brightly, taking the first set 6-4, but blew several chances in the second and eventually lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 to the world No 4.
Wang, meanwhile, was pulverised by the women’s defending champion, losing 6-0, 6-0, in just 51 minutes.
Zhang, who was facing a top-10 opponent for the fourth time in his career and came into the grand slam on the back of a quarter-finals appearance in Madrid, said he felt as he had “improved through each game”.
“The first time was against Dominic Thiem in Beijing many years ago, when I had no chance in the whole match,” Zhang said. “The second time with Andrey Rublev was the same. And then [Taylor] Fritz [in Madrid], now this time, I feel I can fight back in some certain period during the matches.”
Zhang went into the match strongly as he broke Ruud’s first serve to take the upper hand in the first set, and the Norwegian said he had felt frustrated with his game at that point.
“It was very tough in the first set, he was hitting many winners and I couldn’t find a hole in his game,” Ruud said.
Zhang had the chance to earn himself an early break in the second when he soared to a 40-0 lead in the third game, but Ruud recovered to win five points in a row to defend his serve, which turned to be a turning point in the match.
“I did well in the first set, actually not bad in the second,” Zhang said. “But I squandered the chances, didn’t break in the third game, maybe from that point he started to gain confidence and I hardly got chance to break again.”
Ruud, who hit 36 winners and saved seven of 10 break points, said the turning point had come at 5-4 in the second set when his opponent “played some sloppy shots and that gave me the set, maybe the match”.
A beaten finalist last year, Ruud will face either Nicolas Jarry of Chile or Marcos Giron for a place in the quarter-finals.
In the women’s singles, Swiatek fired a warning to her rivals with a flawless demolition of Wang and has now dropped just eight games in her three matches in Paris.
“For sure, I am happy. It was a very strong performance from me and I was happy I was disciplined and took care of everything,” Swiatek said.
“Every point is important for me and at the highest level every point matters. You always have to be kind of disciplined. I am going to use that skill later when I have tight matches.”
The 22-year-old wasted little time showing who was in charge, breaking the Chinese world No 80 three times to seal the first set in 28 minutes.
Wang’s strong forehand was supposed to be a major weapon but instead it let her down, with the Chinese piling up a dozen unforced errors en route to the first of two bagels.
Swiatek, who had also managed the double bagel feat in Rome last month, refused to be drawn into Wang’s power rallies and instead made her opponent run.
