China's Zheng Qinwen plays a forehand return to Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova during their women's singles match on day 1 of the French Open tennis tournament on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on May 25, 2025. Photo: VCG

Chinese tennis ace Zheng ­Qinwen on Sunday beat Russian veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova during her debut in the 2025 French Open, the second Grand Slam of the tennis season. The victory marked a good start for the 22-year-old at Roland-Garros, where she returned with the memories of her golden finish at Paris 2024 still fresh.

The match lasted for about one hour and 22 minutes at Court Philippe-Chatrier. The eighth-seeded Zheng downed her first-round opponent in straight sets at 6-4 and 6-3.

Pavlyuchenkova was the runner-up at the French Open in 2021, demonstrating her formidable clay-court skills. Before the red clay match at Roland-Garros, Zheng first encountered Pavlyuchenkova at the Cincinnati WTA 1000 event in August 2024, when Zheng lost 5-7, 1-6 to the 33-year-old veteran.

During a pre-tournament press conference, Zheng said she had a severe cold while playing against Pavlyuchenkova in Cincinnati. 

"My body was really struggling with back-to-back matches. Coming to the French Open, even though it's the same opponent, it will definitely be a different match. She is very tough to play against, with very fast ball speed. Although her movement might not be that great, she can score a lot of winners. I will give it my all," Zheng said.

Roland-Garros is Zheng's lucky ground as it was there that she successively defeated various strong opponents and won the women's singles gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, achieving a historic breakthrough for Chinese players. 

"I fought until the last moment in every match, and there was one match after which I cried. From the quarterfinals onward, I would collapse to the ground after each victory. Those were the most unforgettable moments. Now that I'm here again, I hope to take it step by step without any regrets," Zheng said in a pre-tournament interview.

The 2025 French Open is set to run from Sunday to June 8. According to the draw released on Thursday, Zheng is in the same section as World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who vanquished Kamilla Rakhimova at 6-1 and 6-0 in the first round earlier on Sunday. If both Zheng and Sabalenka continue to win, they will meet in the quarterfinals.

Zheng made a breakthrough at the WTA 1000 event in Rome earlier in May, defeating the Belarusian for the first time in her career and breaking a six-match losing streak when facing off with her.

Looking back Zheng's performance during the 2025 season, she was unexpectedly eliminated in the second round of the Australian Open in January and then struggled with injuries, leading to poor performances in several tournaments. At the WTA 1000 event in Rome, Zheng lost in the semifinals to US player Coco Gauff.

The rising wave of global tennis talents, spearheaded by the formidable top seed Aryna Sabalenka, the four-time champion of Roland-Garros Iga Swiatek, and the in-form winner of the Rome Open Jasmine Paolini, indicates that Zheng will have to exert extra effort on the challenging and unpredictable clay courts.

Along with Zheng, only one other Chinese female player, the 42nd-ranked Wang Xinyu, has secured a spot in the main draw based on her ranking, while Yuan Yue, ranked 89th, has entered as an alternate.

In the men's competition, the only Chinese player featured in the draw is the 70th-ranked Bu Yunchaokete, as the 71st-ranked young talent Shang Juncheng and the 81st-ranked Zhang Zhizhen have both pulled out due to injuries.

The group represents the smallest delegation from China at Roland-Garros in the past five years.