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.
