Iga Swiatek was thoroughly tested on a tennis court in a while by Qinwen Zheng but managed to extender her win streak to 32 matches in the 4th round of the French Open.
The Pole overcame the Chinese teenager 6-7(5) 6-0 6-2 in a hard-hitting battle.
The world number one, gunning for a second title in three years at Roland Garros, showed rare signs of nerves and let a comfortable lead slip through her hands before steamrolling her opponent after Zheng suffered a thigh problem.
In what looked to be another comfortable outing for Swiatek, led 5-3 before wasting three set points and two more at 6-5 with Zheng mounting a comeback and forcing a tiebreak after throwing the kitchen sink at her opponent.
Swiatek again looked to have won the set in the tiebreak moving up 5-2 only for Zheng to win the remaining five points to take the set.
It was noteworthy as Iga Swiatek, before facing Qinwen Zheng, had lost only one of the previous 49 sets she played.
But as is often the case, Swiatek responded brilliantly to open a 3-0 lead in the second set.
Zheng took a medical time out to have her back massaged on the court before going to the locker room and coming back with her right thigh strapped.
It did little to help her as Swiatek sealed the win to extend her streak to 32 matches in what is the longest unbeaten run in the women’s tour since Serena Willaims bagged 34 victories in succession in 2013.
She will face American 11th seed Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals as she bids to become the fourth player since 2000 to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup multiple times.
Jessica Pegula reached the French Open quarterfinals for the first time by coming back to beat Irina-Camelia Begu 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
