Former champion Halep knocked out of French Open by Chinese teen Zheng

Paris: Former world No.1 Simona Halep crashed out of the French Open on Thursday as she failed to deal with the aggressive game of Chinese teenager Zheng Qinwen and suffered a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 second-round loss.

Halep, who lifted the trophy at Roland Garros in 2018 before winning Wimbledon the following year, came into the match on Court Simonne Mathieu having won her only prior clash with the 19-year-old Zheng in straight sets in Melbourne in January.

The 30-year-old Romanian got off to a flying start by dominating play from the baseline, breezing through the opening set and going up a break before Zheng, ranked 74th in the world, took control.

Winners started flowing from the Chinese player’s racket as the unforced error count soared for Halep and Zheng did not look back.

Zheng, who hit 28 winners to her opponent’s nine, won eight games in a row to go up 3-0 in the deciding set and Halep won just one more game.

“I have been working really hard, and it was really nice, that was my best performance. I am happy today,” Zheng said on court.

The former world No.1 proved no match for the aggressive game of Zheng Qinwen.Credit:Getty

Halep also seemed to struggle with her breathing during the third set and had her pulse and blood pressure checked on court.

She said she had suffered a panic attack.

“I didn’t know how to handle it, because I don’t have it often,” a smiling Halep said.

“I don’t really know why it happened, because I was leading the match. I was playing well. I couldn’t focus. After the match, (it) was pretty tough. But now I’m good. I’m recovered, and I will learn from this episode.”

Zheng, playing only her second major after making her grand slam debut at the Australian Open, will next meet local hope Alize Cornet, who beat Latvian former champion Jelena Ostapenko in three sets.

On another day of upsets for the seeded players in the women’s draw, American Shelby Rogers beat compatriot and Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins, the ninth seed, 6-4, 6-3.

Local wildcard Leolia Jeanjean earlier swept away former world No.1 and eighth seed Karolina Pliskova in straight sets.

There were no such issues for top seed Iga Swiatek, who demolished American Alison Riske 6-0, 6-2 as she raced into the third round with a 30th consecutive victory.

In the men’s draw, Daniil Medvedev still has issues with claycourt tennis, but the world No.2 cantered into the third round with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win against Serbian Laslo Djere.

Daniil Medvedev is not on his preferred surface but nonetheless continues to progress through the French Open draw.Credit:Getty

The Russian, who reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year after four consecutive first-round exits, struggled at times but his elasticity eventually made up for his lack of natural ability to move around on the slow surface.

“I honestly think I played better in the first round,” Medvedev told a news conference. “I definitely need to play better next rounds because it’s going to be tougher and tougher. Again, I am not going to lie, I prefer hard courts.

“I couldn’t really make the ball, you know, go through the air fast. I was just trying to put it in, running, running, running.”

“So that’s where I think it could be better, because again, the better, the tougher guys you play, the less they are going to miss and more you have to run and more it’s going to be tough.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas, meanwhile, was again made to work hard for victory, the Greek fourth seed overcoming Czech qualifier Zdenek Kolar 6-3, 7-6 (10-8), 6-7 (6-3), 7-6 (9-7) in a marathon match.

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