Zheng Qinwen beats Magdalena Frech to make Italian Open round of 16

China's Zheng Qinwen secured a place in the women's singles round of 16 at the Italian Open for the third consecutive year after defeating Poland's Magdalena Frech 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday.

The two players split victories in their previous two meetings. This was their first meeting on clay. Zheng came out firing in the opening set, racing into a commanding 5-0 lead. Frech responded by holding serve and breaking once to close the gap to 5-3. However, Zheng steadied herself to serve out the set 6-3.

After clinching the first set, Zheng let out a loud roar.

"I've lost to quite a few players on clay who just keep lobbing high balls at me," Zheng said after the match. "It gets on my nerves when they do that, so when I hit a winner, I just need to let it out to pump myself up."

In the second set, Zheng broke early and consolidated for a 2-0 lead. Though Frech leveled the score at 2-2, Zheng regained control with a crucial break in the fifth game and surged ahead, reeling off the final four games to seal a 6-2 victory.

Zheng was particularly efficient with her drop shots throughout the match. "I noticed my opponent kept moving back, so I wanted to mix up the depth of my shots to disrupt her rhythm," Zheng explained. "I also saw her footwork wasn't that quick. On clay, drop shots can be a really effective weapon."

In the next round, Zheng will face former U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada.