High emotions and higher heat as China's Zheng Qinwen progresses in epic

PARIS - High temperatures and high emotions were the order of the day at Roland Garros on the fourth day of tennis action at Paris 2024 on Tuesday.

Women's sixth seed Zheng Qinwen of China had to dig deep in a grueling three-hour match to overcome American 11th seed Emma Navarro 6-7, 7-6, 6-1.

"I never fought so hard like this," Zheng admitted. "[I] spent the most effort, most mental strength and most physical. That's so special because I don't fight for myself, I fight for China. There's so much of the crowd cheering for me, Chinese people, some of them. We don't like the sun and they're yelling for me, and they're under the sun same as me and I feel very cheered up. I didn't fight alone on court today."

In the opening set, Navarro came back from a break down to take the first in a tiebreak after fighting off multiple set points. In the second set, Navarro led 5-3 and even had a match point, but Zheng fought back to force a tiebreak, eventually winning the set 7-6.

As the heat rose, so did the tension between the two players. Navarro grew frustrated with Zheng slowing the rate of play down in between points to manage the heat and sweat. Zheng was forced to shout at her raucous support to quieten down before serves. The final set saw Zheng take control, breaking Navarro's first two serves and cruising to a 6-1 victory. Zheng's performance included 12 aces and 33 winners, despite 49 unforced errors, while Navarro managed 3 aces and 19 winners.

Zheng's quarterfinal opponent, Angelique Kerber, continued her impressive farewell run by defeating 16th-seeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals. This marks her first quarterfinal appearance in over two years. Kerber, who announced she will retire after the Games, broke serve six times and hit 22 winners in a dominant performance.

Women's top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland eased past China's Wang Xiyu 6-3, 6-4 to confidently qualify for the quarterfinals. Wang, who defeated 15th seed Diana Shnaider in the previous round, faced a mammoth task to knock over a second seeded player in as many days. Holding her serve well while putting Swiatek under pressure on her service game, Wang stood firm until game six when the Pole stepped on the accelerator to break the Chinese twice and win four consecutive games. Shellshocked, Wang was again immediately broken in the first game of the second, before Swiatek held on to advance.

Once again, fans flocked to see the King of Clay and his heir apparent as Spain's all-star line-up of Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz were taken to a third set tie-break by the hardworking Dutch duo of Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof, winning 6-4, 6-7, 10-2 in the men's doubles. Both pairs were very strong on their own service game, with Nadal and Alcaraz getting the only break point of the match in the seventh game of the first set.

In the mixed doubles, China's Zhang Zhizhen and Wang Yinyu came from a set down to win a third set tie-break 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 against the tough Brazilian pair of Luisa Stefani and Thiago Seyboth Wild. In the first set, Zhang/Wang suffered from a number of unforced errors and perfectly placed Brazilian winners as they were broken twice. However, both Zhang and Wang began to find their rhythm in the second set before holding on in the third set tie-break.

Coco Gauff, Team USA's Olympic opening ceremony flag bearer, exited the women's singles competition after losing 7-6, 6-2 to Croatia's Donna Vekic. Gauff, who had looked strong in the first two rounds, still has chances in doubles and mixed doubles. Emotions boiled to the surface in the punishing Parisian summer heat when an out call was overruled, awarding a crucial point to Vekic at a critical juncture. Gauff argued with the chair umpire and tournament supervisor, expressing frustration and appearing to cry while saying, "I feel like I'm getting cheated constantly in this game." Despite getting to 0-40 on Vekic's serve in the next game, Gauff couldn't capitalize, and Vekic extended her lead to 5-2. Ultimately, a rattled Gauff was broken easily, allowing the recent Wimbledon semifinalist Vekic to advance.

Reigning Olympic gold medalist Alexander Zverev hit 24 winners as he advanced to the third round by defeating Czech player Tomas Machac 6-3, 7-5.

British men's number one Jack Draper lost 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 2-6 to American Taylor Fritz in the Paris heat, ending Britain's interest in the Olympic singles. Draper started strongly but failed to capitalize on break points in the second set, ultimately wilting in the high temperatures.

Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova won a thrilling match against Elina Svitolina, securing a 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4 victory to reach the quarterfinals. The No 9 seed from the Czech Republic took 2 hours and 48 minutes to overcome the Ukrainian flagbearer and 2021 Olympic bronze medalist. Krejcikova, who has won 10 consecutive tour-level singles matches, continued her strong form after winning her second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

Meanwhile, Jasmine Paolini, the Wimbledon runner-up, was upset by Slovakia's Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Ranked world No 67, Schmiedlova is Slovakia's sole tennis representative at this year's Olympics and advanced to the quarterfinals.