By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, May 30, 2022
Iga Swiatek lost a set for the first time in a month before rallying past Zheng Qinwen 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-2 advancing to her third straight Roland Garros quarterfinal.
Photo credit: Getty
Tugging on the brim of her vanilla baseball cap, Iga Swiatek muttered frustration seeing four set points slip from her grip.
Swiatek suffered separation anxiety for a set today—she couldn’t shirk Zheng Qinwen’s shadow.
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Dropping a set for the first time since April, Swiatek stared down the stress test and beat back the tough teenager 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-2 advancing to her third consecutive Roland Garros quarterfinal.
"For sure I tried to loosen up my hand a little bit. She played really good tennis with heavy topspins," Swiatek told the media in Paris. "The key in the second set was kind of not letting her do that again. I'm pretty happy that I could play a little bit faster and put pressure on her."
The world No. 1 scored her 32nd straight win, but it wasn’t as easy as the scoreline may suggest. Zheng suffered a right leg injury in the second set, took treatment to have her leg taped and looked unsteady in the second set before making a push in the third.
Afterward, Zheng said she struggled with a stomach issue in addition to the leg injury.
"In first set I just trying to play my tennis and I didn't felt the pain in stomach in the first set," Zheng told the media in Paris. "So I'm able to really get there and to say, "Come on," to have the good attitude and to have some blood in the match.
"And after, when the match goes and by the time and I just have like too pain in stomach. And I want to fight, I really, really wants to fight, but I just don't have power and it was really tough. I couldn't show my tennis today in the second and third set, even in the first set, I'm really not happy with my performance, actually, yeah."
The 2020 Roland Garros champion should be pleased with her persistence. Despite some sloppy patches, Swiatek showed grit improving to 18-2 in Paris.
Swiatek’s 32nd straight win equals Hall of Famer Justine Henin, who’s on the Roland Garros grounds, as the longest WTA winning streak since 2008.
It seems like an eternity since Swiatek’s been tested, but the 19-year-old Zheng played fearless tennis. Playing just her ninth career clay-court match the Roland Garros debutant moved fluidly before the leg issue, cracked the ball down both lines with authority and use the drop shot shrewdly. Most importantly, Zheng fought hard—except for some stretches of that second set when she was gauging how much stress her leg could absorb—and made Swiatek feel scoreboard pressure.
Riding a streak of five straight tournament titles, Swiatek has been invincible.
Today’s test showed she’s not invulnerable.
Credit Swiatek for responding with a streak of eight consecutive games for a 2-0 lead in the decider. Swiatek showed signs of frustration, changed her racquet and even her shoes at one point seemingly trying to find her feel, but the top seed showed stubborn spine to endure the stress test.
Swiatek saved eight of the 10 break points she faced and pumped 32 winners against 39 unforced errors, which she’ll want to clean up in the quarterfinals.
"I feel actually a little bit better because I felt like I was a little bit in trouble, and I was able to come back and really refocus and find other solutions, so that's great," Swiatek said. "And kind of I didn't have a chance to do that in previous matches, because, you know, I was leading in the first rounds and then I finished it right. I tried to take, you know, some positives from the first set.
"Obviously it wasn't like the best that I lost from, I don't know, 5-2 or 5-3? But still, I was able to come back in second set and lead the game again. So I take that from the match."
Madrid finalist Jessica Pegula showed her tenacity battling back from a set down to defeat Irina-Camelia Begu 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 and advance to her second straight major quarterfinal.
The 11th-seeded Pegula joins her doubles partner, Coco Gauff, and 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens as third American woman into the last eight. No. 17-seeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez, who has trained in Florida, gives the Sunshine State four of the eight quarterfinalists in the City of Light.
Former French Open finalist Stephens squares off against 18th-seeded Gauff in tomorrow’s quarterfinal ensuring there will be at least one American woman in the final four.
The feisty Pegula, whose family owns the Buffalo Bills franchise, blitzed through eight of the last 11 games beating Begu for the first time in three meetings.
What can Pegula—and the rest of the field—draw from Swiatek’s scrape today?
Hope and encouragement are two things that come to mind. Zheng showed contenders some possibilities of how to play Swiatek.
First, you have to be athletic enough to run with her. Secondly, you must keep the ball out of the center of the court. Zheng took cracks down both lines and bled some unruly backhand errors from Swiatek.
The Chinese player, who grew up looking up to Hall of Famer and former Roland Garros champ Li Na, used the entire court backing Swiatek up sometimes and pulling the string on the drop shot. Zheng said she believes her best level is not too far from Swiatek.
"I feel she have a really good forehand on clay, a lot of spin, she's able to put me out of the court," Zheng said. "But if you talk about only tennis, I think the level was not too much like big different.
"Of course I have my own weapons. I think my serve is, I have better speed than her. And if you talk, I think we both move not too bad on clay."
Pegula doesn’t hit it as consistently hard as Zheng, but she can take the ball early and at her best she can bang her backhand down the line. That shot will be key if she is to test the world No. 1.
Despite all that, Swiatek can review today’s match knowing she was on course for a straight-sets win before it all got complicated. That could compel her to play with more urgency in the quarterfinals.
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Today, Swiatek had three game points to stretch the lead to 4-1, but couldn’t convert.
Serving for the set at 5-3, Swiatek gained three set points but ran into problems. Zheng saved one set point with a winner, Swiatek slapped her first double fault to squander her third set point then netted an error to gift the break .
On the ensuring changeover, Swiatek’s box urged her to take deep breaths, control the heart rate and calm down a bit.
Staying low on her drives, Swiatek spread the court with a crosscourt forehand and a forehand down the line drawing to 15-30 in the 10th game. Zheng shrugged the stress off and drove the ball with conviction holding to level after 10 games.
Playing with strong self-belief, Zheng pinned Swiatek in the backhand corner then hit a high drop shot that sat up behind the service line and still earned her two break points. Swiatek swatted an ace to erase the first break point.
Channeling frustration into firepower, Swiatek scalded three sizzling forehands in a row saving break point and drawing even at deuce. Swiatek withstood the danger with a stretched backhand volley holding for 6-5.
Deadlocked at deuce, Swiatek worked her way forehand, leaned low for a backhand volley then thumped a smash for a fourth set point. Zheng fought off a deep return to save it.
The 74th-ranked Zheng held firm to force the tiebreak as Swiatek paused briefly to change into a new pair of blue Asics shoes.
Zheng went up a mini break at 2-0 before Swiatek swept through five points in a row for 5-2.
The top seed seemed to be in control, but Zheng again roared back. Dotting the T with at an ace brought the teenager to 5-all. Swiatek missed a forehand return then pulled off her backhand whacking a wild two-hander as Zheng, who fought off four set points earlier, took the 82-minute opener.
It was not only the first set Swiatek permitted in Paris—it was the first set she’d lost since the opening set of her 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 win over Liudmila Samsonova in the Stuttgart semifinals last April.
How would Swiatek respond to dropping her first set in 37 days?
She implored her box to be quiet then began calming stress storm.
After both women left the court for bathroom breaks, Swiatek flushed first-set nerves scoring back-to-back love breaks for a 3-0 second-set lead.
Zheng paused the barrage to take an injury timeout for treatment of a right leg issue. The trainer taped up her right thigh and Zheng returned to action only to see Swiatek hold for 4-0.
One hours, 55 minutes into a physical fourth-rounder, Zheng wasn’t moving with the same urgency and couldn’t move at all when Swiatek slid a backhand winner down the line for 5-0. Zheng capitulated the second set sending a backhand long as Swiatek sealed the shutout to force a decider after two hours.
The Roland Garros debutant’s inability to move explosively tilted matters in Swiatek’s favor and muted the crowd which had been so vocal during the first-set tiebreaker.
Struggling to push off her leg, Zheng removed the taping wrapping her right leg then double-faulted away the break to start the final set.
Swiatek surged through eight straight games before Zheng held for 1-2 in the decider. The teenager had Swiatek moving backward on break point but pushed a forehand dropper into the tape. Swiatek hurled herself into a pair of thundering forehands fending off a second break point. A cluster of crackling forehands carried Swiatek through a tough test for 3-1.
A jolting Swiatek strike down the line rattled Zheng who double-faulted away the double break as the top seed stretched her lead to 5-2. Swiatek closed in two hours, 45 minutes.
It’s a win that will give opponents hope, but could also strengthen Swiatek giving her a taste of the pressure points she hasn’t faced too often during this winning streak