Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen eased past 2021 finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-3 in the French Open first round on Sunday to stretch her winning run on the Parisian clay to seven matches.
The Chinese player has fond memories of the Philippe Chatrier court, having won the women's singles gold medal on the same court at last year's Paris Games.
"I am happy to get this match against a great opponent," Zheng said. "Alway,s the first match in a tournament is not easy."
Qinwen Zheng starts off her Roland-Garros campaign with a solid win 🇨🇳#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/EkmFTrepex
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 25, 2025
"That feeling is unforgettable," she said of her win at the Paris Olympics last year. "It is the best experience of my life so far. I will carry the gold medal mentality all through this tournament."
Playing under a closed roof due to rain in the French capital on the first day of the tournament, Zheng broke the Russian in the second game to quickly go 3-0 up.
Order of Play | Win with SPAR | Watch Live on DStv
The eighth seed initially was stretching her opponent with well-placed serves but she stumbled in the sixth game when 33-year-old Pavlyuchenkova broke back and levelled at 4-4.
Zheng quickly recovered and bagged the first set, with a love game on her opponent's serve.
The pair traded breaks midway through the second set before Pavlyuchenkova was broken again, despite being 40-15 up, when a seemingly simple smash sailed past the baseline and Zheng wrapped up the match on serve.
A gold medalist against a former RG finalist, check out our highlights by @emirates ✈️#RolandGarros #Emirates #FlyBetter pic.twitter.com/5BkUHqXFu1
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 25, 2025
FOURTH SEED PAOLINI SURVIVES FIRST-ROUND WOBBLE TO BEAT YUAN AT FRENCH OPEN
Jasmine Paolini, last season's beaten finalist, had to dig deep to battle past China's Yuan Yue in the French Open first round on Sunday before earning a nerve-wracking 6-1 4-6 6-3 victory.
The Italian fourth-seed got off to a sizzling start, powering through the first set in 25 minutes and punishing the Chinese with a barrage of deep ground strokes.
Paolini, who last week became the first Italian woman in four decades to claim the Italian Open title, gave Yuan, who littered the court with 14 unforced errors in the first set, no chance.
But as Yuan gradually adapted to the diminutive Italian's game, Paolini's own errors started to pile up and she found herself 4-2 down before the Chinese held serve to draw level.
Paolini, who also reached last year's Wimbledon final, was broken again by Yuan early in the third set when the Chinese fired a sensational backhand down the line to go 3-2 up.
But the 29-year-old late bloomer found a way back into the match and rattled off the next four games to book her second-round spot.
"It was tough," Paolini said. "I won quite easy the first set but then she started to play better. A bit of emotions came out.
"I was then 3-2 down with a break but I did it. Hopefully I will play better then next round. We will see."
She will next face the winner of the all-Australian first round match between Ajla Tomljanovic and Maya Joint.