Zheng Qinwen reaches Australian Open quarterfinals, sets another career best

Zheng Qinwen of China beat Oceane Dodin of France 2-0 (6-0 and 6-3) in the women's singles Round of 16 match at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday, advancing to the tournament's quarterfinals for the first time in her career.

Zheng, 21, won the first set with crushing force, allowing not even a single game in 24 minutes. As the second set began, Zheng held her first two serves and then scored a break in Game 4 to lead 3-1. Though Dodin replied with a break in the next game, Zheng immediately returned the favor and then extended her lead to 5-2 to reach the match point.

Dodin held her fourth serve, but that was her final resistance. She lost Game nine with two straight unforced errors in the end. The whole match lasted less than an hour.

Zheng's opponent in the quarterfinals will be Anna Kalinskaya of Russia, who eliminated Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the Round of 16 match. Zheng is the only seeded player (No. 12) in her half of the competition, which also includes Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic and Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine.

Yastremska beat three seeded players, seventh seeded Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, 27th seeded Emma Navarro of the U.S. and two-time Australian Open champion, and 18th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus on her way to the last eight.

In the other half of the women's singles matches, No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will play No. 9 seed Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic; No. 4 seed Coco Gauff of the U.S. will meet Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.

Sabalenka is the reigning women's singles champion of the tournament. Krejcikova won the French Open title in 2021 and Gauff won the U.S. Open last year.