Zheng Qinwen beats Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in French Open first round

Chinese eighth-seeded Zheng Qinwen beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-4, 6-3 in the women's singles first round at the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on Sunday, advancing to the second round at the tournament for the fourth straight year.

Pavlyuchenkova reached the French Open final in 2021. Though she lost to Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, it was still Pavlyuchenkova's best performance at any Grand Slam tournament.

Zheng and Pavlyuchenkova had played each other once before at the Cincinnati Open in 2024 when the Russian veteran defeated Zheng 7-5, 6-1 in the third round.

Zheng began their second meeting with a 3-0 lead, but Pavlyuchenkova soon replied and tied the set 4-4 after eight games. Zheng then delivered two love games to claim the set and lead 1-0 in the match.

Zheng broke the opponent first again in the second set and led 3-1 after four games. Though Pavlyuchenkova rallied to cut her deficit to 4-3 and led 40-15 in the eighth, Zheng managed to come back to take the game and stayed ahead 5-3. Then she held her next serve to win the match.

Zheng will face Emiliana Arango of Colombia in the second round.

Zheng's compatriot Yuan Yue was knocked out by No. 4 seed Jasmine Paolini of Italy 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 in the first round. Another Chinese player Wang Xinyu will face former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu of Britain later on Monday.