Zheng Qinwen battles past Kessler into quarterfinals at Queen's Club

China's Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen fought hard to defeat McCartney Kessler of the United States 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 and reach the women's singles quarterfinals at the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Queen's Club in London, Britain, on Thursday.

22-year-old Zheng, ranked world No. 5, needed two hours and 11 minutes to overcome Kessler in the second round.

Zheng entered the WTA 500 tournament as the top seed and received a bye in the first round. She said she did not expect her first match on grass this season to be easy – and she was indeed tested by Kessler.

Zheng admitted she lost focus briefly after taking the opening set and struggled to adjust in time.

World No. 42 Kessler broke Zheng in the 10th game of the second set to even the match and then broke first in the decider, but a composed Zheng fought back to seal the win.

"I believe I should play even more aggressive on the grass court, but I need to be patient at the same time. I need to find the balance," Zheng said after the match. She will next face British wild card Emma Raducanu on Friday.

Raducanu, a former U.S. Open champion, advanced by defeating Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-1.

"As a British player, she definitely has more experience on the grass court," Zheng said. "But I will pull out all the stops tomorrow. I will try my best to focus on every point."

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina also secured a quarterfinal berth by defeating Britain's Heather Watson 6-4, 6-2.

The fourth-seeded Kazakh will face German veteran Tatjana Maria on Friday.

In the women's doubles, Zhang Shuai of China and Ellen Perez of Australia needed two tiebreaks in their win over Timea Babos of Hungary and Luisa Stefani of Brazil to reach the semifinals.

Zhang sent a forehand volley to tie the contest 5-5 in the opener. The set went into the first tiebreak where the third seeds won it 7-4 when Babos' volley found the net.

Perez came to the net and broke back at 5-5 in the second set thanks to a forehand volley.

Babos and Stefani led 6-3 in the second tiebreak but Zhang and Perez fought back to win the extra-session 9-7. Next up for them are second seeds Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan and Diana Shnaider of Russia.

On the same day at the Libema Open in Rosmalen, 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, China's Yuan Yue beat Australian Kimberly Birrell in straight sets to reach the quarterfinal at the WTA 250 event, marking her first tour-level grass quarterfinal.

Yuan set up for a break with a forehand winner and then took the first set 6-4 when Birrell's forehand went wide. The former world No. 40 continued to close out the contest 6-3 when the Australian hit the net. Next up for Yuan is third seed Elise Mertens of Belgium.

(With inputs from Xinhua News Agency)