Wilting Zheng feels heat in Paris

Even with the early exit of "Queen Wen" catching fans off guard, Chinese tennis has swung off its French Open campaign with plenty to cheer about, as a group of its elite players launched their major comeback with flying colors in Paris.

The opening-round action at Roland Garros this year has served up several treats for Chinese fans, from talented men's ace Wu Yibing's first main draw win at the clay-court major to struggling woman Wang Xiyu's first tour-level victory this year.

Yet, it was the shock of fan favorite Zheng Qinwen's unexpected first-round loss to Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska that has dominated the headlines, leaving fans with mixed feelings.

Zheng, a proud winner of China's first singles Olympic gold medal at the same venue at Paris 2024, was dealt a head-on blow in her attempt to regain her form at Roland Garros, following a long injury layoff, suffering a straight-sets defeat to Chwalinska in an early tournament upset on Monday.

Zheng, who in her deepest run at the French Open last year reached the quarterfinals, struggled to find her rhythm facing the 114th-ranked Pole, whose unique style of hitting top-spin, high-arc lob shots — or "moonballs" — that landed deep and bounced high, proved effective in neutralizing Zheng's aggressive baseline game, punishing the Chinese star's lack of patience, and apparently waning focus, with a 6-4,6-0 win in just one-and-a-half hours on Court 7.

Too harried to be able to dictate the pace of the game and sway the battle toward her rapid-fire attack, Zheng committed 32 unforced errors against just five from Chwalinska.

The Chinese former world No 4, who has dropped out of the top 100 on the live women's world ranking, admitted with a pained demeanor that, maybe, it's time for her to rebuild her game from the ground up.

"Losing in the first round at Roland Garros was really, really tough for me," an emotional Zheng said in wavering voice at the post-match news conference, where she had to pause to wipe away tears of disappointment.

"Nerves and pressure today didn't allow me to play the tennis that I want," said the 23-year-old, who, since 2022, has won four WTA singles titles to go with her Olympic gold.

"I had a tailored tactic before the match, but her top spin was bouncing much higher than expected.

"At one point on the court, I even hit the line judge with my racket, because I couldn't move back any further," Zheng explained.

It was the first time that Zheng has fallen in the first round at Roland Garros, where she had maintained a 16-4 win-loss record, including the Olympic tournament, before Monday, providing her with a sobering reminder that, perhaps, a slower rebuild from the entry level might suit her better at the moment.

"I didn't pay much attention to my ranking (just yet), but, of course, I need to start all over again, and that's going to be different," said Zheng, who underwent right elbow surgery last summer, took a lengthy recovery period that forced her to skip the Australian Open and only, tentatively, returned to competitive matches on the WTA Tour in February.

"But, I think it's going to be kind of positive for me, because I need more matches to get into my rhythm," said Zheng, who's expected to have to start from the qualifying rounds at top-level WTA events after her French Open exit.

Also struggling with their respective injuries since the second half of last season, China's Wang Xinyu and Wang Xiyu have, conversely, fueled their resurgence with inspiring opening wins in Paris.

Wang Xinyu, China's current top woman, ranked 34th in the world, halted a four-match skid on clay at Tour-level events by battling past Austria's 2024 Roland Garros junior champion Lilli Tagger 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to register her 20th Grand Slam main draw win on her least-favorite surface on Sunday.

Just over an hour later, Wang Xiyu, a former top-50 ace, nailed her first Tour-level win this year by beating Montenegro's Danka Kovinic in straight sets, making a strong statement of her solid comeback, from a four-month, injury-enforced hiatus since November, all the way from the lower-level International Tennis Federation circuit.

Perhaps the highlight of the Chinese legion's opening-round action, though, was former US Open boys' champion Wu Yibing, also the winner of Chinese men's first ATP singles title (2023 Dallas), who again proved that, when healthy enough, his game belongs among the elite echelons of the men's tour.

The 26-year-old Wu dominated Marcos Giron of the United States 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 on Monday to register his first French Open main draw victory and his fifth career win at the major level, breaking new ground for Chinese men's tennis on the Parisian clay.

Wu's rapid-fire game, which has helped him pull off major upsets in the past, including a defeat of former top-10 Russian Daniil Medvedev at the ATP250 Hangzhou Open in September, has evolved, even on clay, a surface he has struggled a lot with in the past. This was highlighted by his smooth movement up and down the dirt, smart drop shots and solid defense on the baseline.

A two-week training program in the backyard of the "King of Clay" has apparently paid dividends.

"The experience was really helpful, and perhaps I gained a small extra piece of Rafa's magic there," Wu said of his pre-Paris training camp at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain.

"Overall, I feel I am getting more used to playing on clay than before, and I've gradually picked up my confidence and started to play my game the way I want on this kind of surface," said Wu, who reached a career-high ranking of No 54 in May 2023.

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