PARIS, July 29 (Xinhua) -- It was a good day for China's women at Roland Garros as Wang Xiyu and Zheng Qinwen advanced, while Novak Djokovic bested Rafael Nadal 6-1, 6-4 in a highly anticipated clash.
The Djokovic-Nadal match was the hottest ticket in town, packing out Court Philippe-Chatrier as fans flocked to see the 60th and potentially last-ever matchup between the two legendary players. Djokovic entered with a slightly better record, having won 30 to Nadal's 29. Nadal, the king of Roland Garros with 14 French Open titles, was greeted warmly by the local fans.
Djokovic broke Nadal immediately in the first set, putting the Spaniard on the back foot. Nadal struggled to find rhythm and was broken again, giving Djokovic a 5-0 lead. Nadal won his first game in the sixth, much to the joy of the Parisian crowd, but Djokovic took the first set.
In the second set, Djokovic broke Nadal twice. Nadal began to resist, holding serve and breaking Djokovic twice to level at 4-4. However, just as it looked like Nadal might be finding a way back, Djokovic broke Nadal again and held serve to claim perhaps the final win of his career against Nadal.
Earlier in the day, Wang Xiyu eased past Diana Shnaider 6-3, 6-1 in her second-round match. Wang started the match perfectly, breaking Shnaider immediately in the opening game. Wang was able to assert herself with her service and broke Shnaider again in the seventh game of the first set.
In the second set, Wang was even more dominant. The Chinese streaked to a 5-0 lead in the set and held her serve for the rest of the set to ease into the third round and a challenging match-up against number one seed Iga Swiatek.
Following her win, Wang expressed her satisfaction with her Olympic tournament so far, "I am very happy. I just hope that I can take one step at a time, go up one floor at a time, and then see how far I can reach."
Despite the straightforwardness of her win, Wang praised her opponent. "Before the game, I knew she was a very good player, very young and played very strong. She also played a lot of good results this year. All I can do is to work hard every minute and find every opportunity to take the initiative. Fortunately, I did it."
Wang also revealed how much she was looking forward to her clash against the world number one. "First of all, I am very looking forward to it because there are very few opportunities to play against the world's number one. To be honest, I am still very looking forward to it. I hope I can learn more from this game and see what the gap is between me and the world's number one," Wang said.
China's sixth seed medal hopeful Zheng Qinwen also had a good day at the office after she defeated Rus Arantxa in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. Breaking the Dutch player twice in the first four games, it seemed as if Arantxa would offer little resistance to the Chinese. However, Arantxa, with her back against the wall, fought back well, holding her serve before breaking Zheng in game six of the first set. However, the resistance was short-lived, and Zheng wrapped up the set two games later.
In the second set, Arantxa continued to fight, but Zheng was too good. After breaking the Netherlands player in the third game, Zheng held her serve to canter into the third round.
Elsewhere for China at Roland Garros, there were losses for Wang Xinyu against the Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova (6-3, 6-2), and Yuan Yue against Greece's Maria Sakkari (6-2, 6-1). In the doubles, Wang Xinyu and Zheng Saisai lost to the Kichenok sisters 6-1, 6-4, and Yuan Yue and Zhang Shuai fell to the Brazilian duo of Beatriz Maia and Luisa Stefani 6-4, 6-4.
