Tearful Zheng Crashes Out of Roland Garros Opener, Falls Out of Top 100

By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, May 25, 2026
Photo credit: Tennis Actua TV Screen Shot

The walls were closing in on Zheng Qinwen and she couldn’t craft an escape.

Deadlocked at 4-all in her Roland Garros opener, Zheng surrendered seven straight points. That sparked a spiral that saw Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska charge through eight consecutive games in a 6-4, 6-0 sweep that handed Zheng her first career opening-round exit in five French Open appearances.

Two years after she toppled Iga Swiatek and Donna Vekic in succession to make history as the first Chinese player to win the Olympic tennis singles gold medal on the red clay of Roland Garros, Zheng hit a sink hole today and conceded nerves constricted her right arm.

“The nerves and pressure today didn’t allow me to play the tennis that I want,” said Zheng, who played only five clay-court matches in preparation for Paris, including pushing No. 2 Elena Rybakina to three sets in Madrid. “Of course I had some great points, great games.

“But important moments like 4-all. I remember I lost straightaway four points in her service game and three points in my service games that usually diidn’t happen to me.”

Afterward an emotional Zheng shed tears in her post-match presser dissecting a painful defeat. Zheng said a perfect red clay storm—hot conditions that exacerbated the bounce of Chwalinska’s heavy topspin combined with the cozy confines of Court 7 which limited her running room and severe pressure—conspired to contribute to her opening crash.

“Honestly, it was tough conditions for me and I felt the weather has been really hot. And I felt today she had a really good game on clay court,” Zheng said. “Like I said before: When she played high ball to me I couldn’t move far away back a lot of times. I don’t have more space in the back court.

“There was one time I hit the referee behind the line. There was some key moments such as 4-all I’m not doing well. That’s tennis I have to come back and working harder. Let’s see next time if it’s my moment.”

This defeat drops the 2025 Roland Garros quarterfinalist to No. 119 in the WTA Live Rankings.

Former world No. 6 Zheng, who has lost in the Wimbledon first round three years in a row and did not play the US Open last year due to injury, said falling from the Top 100 feeling like starting over but she believe she can bounce back with more match play.

“I need to accept today: Okay I didn’t play well, I lost the match,” Zheng said after wiping away tears. “Roland Garros first round is really, really tough on me. It takes this time to handle it.

“There’s nothing more I can say. I can only take the loss and let’s see how I move on.

“Of course I need to start all over again and that’s going to be different, but I think it’s also going to be positive for me because I’ve not played a lot of matches. I think the problem was I need more matches to get into the rhythm.”