French Open: Sabalenka and Zheng storm into fourth round

Paris, May 30 (IANS) World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka continued her excellent form at the 2025 French Open, moving into the women's singles fourth round with a straight-sets win over Serbia’s Olga Danilovic. Sabalenka won the match 6-2, 6-3, showing great control from start to finish. With this win, she has now dropped only 10 games in four matches at Roland Garros this year.

Sabalenka started strongly, taking a 5-0 lead in the first set. Danilovic managed to fight back briefly, holding serve and breaking Sabalenka once, but the top seed quickly regained her focus and closed out the set.

In the second set, Danilovic gave more resistance, but Sabalenka’s powerful serve and consistent groundstrokes helped her break serve twice to seal the match.

This was Danilovic’s first time facing a World No. 1, and although she played some good points, her 26 unforced errors proved costly. Sabalenka hit 17 winners and broke Danilovic’s serve five times. She now moves on to face No. 16 seed Amanda Anisimova in the fourth round.

Anisimova, a former French Open semifinalist, defeated Clara Tauson 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the second week. Sabalenka is the only player to have reached the fourth round at both the Australian Open and French Open in the last three years. She will also remain the World No. 1 after the tournament, regardless of the result.

Sabalenka has already won three titles in 2025 — Brisbane, Miami, and Madrid — and has played six finals this year, the most by any player since Serena Williams in 2013. She now has 50 Grand Slam match wins since the start of 2023, 11 more than the next best, Iga Swiatek.

In another third-round match, China’s Zheng Qinwen also advanced to the fourth round with a solid 6-3, 6-4 win over Canadian teenager Victoria Mboko. Zheng, the No. 8 seed and Olympic gold medalist, faced a strong challenge from the 18-year-old qualifier, who had not dropped a set in five matches coming into this round.

Mboko played with confidence and went toe-to-toe with Zheng from the baseline. However, Zheng used her experience to take key points at the right time. She converted all four of her break points, while Mboko managed only two breaks from eight chances.

Zheng broke serve early in both sets. Though Mboko fought back each time, Zheng quickly responded with another break to stay ahead. The Chinese player remained calm in pressure moments, especially when Mboko had a 0-40 lead in the eighth game of the second set, but failed to convert.

The match was briefly overshadowed by a medical emergency in the stands during the final games, but play continued without interruption. After the match, Zheng expressed concern for the fans during her on-court interview and praised Mboko for pushing her to play her best.

Zheng, who reached the fourth round in Paris for the first time since her debut in 2022, will next face either Liudmila Samsonova or Dayana Yastremska. A win in the next round would give her a first-ever French Open quarterfinal appearance.

--IANS

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