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Preview and Schedule WTA Roland Garros 2025 Day Ten: Zheng Qinwen challenges Sabalenka; Svitolina threatens Swiatek's streak
Susan Mullane-Imagn Images

The schedule for Day Ten of Roland Garros has been announced, marking the start of the quarterfinals, with the top-half women's matches, aiming to find the first two semifinalists. Defending champion Iga Swiatek and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka will be looking for a potential dream semifinal clash.

It won't be easy against two opponents who have already caused them trouble. The Belarusian will face Zheng Qinwen (No. 8), who is on a 10-match winning streak at the Roland Garros venues, while Swiatek meets Elina Svitolina – who already handed her a big upset at Wimbledon 2023 and is in inspired form.

Sabalenka vs. Zheng

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka had a smooth first week, dropping a total of just 10 games in her first three matches against Kamila Rakhimova, Jill Teichmann, and Olga Danilović However, things weren't easy in the fourth round against Amanda Anisimova (No. 16), against whom she had a negative head-to-head record (2-5).

Nevertheless, the Belarusian managed to pull through with a 7-5, 6-3 victory against one of the players who has previously troubled her the most. The three-time Grand Slam champion reached the quarterfinals of a major for the 10th consecutive time and will look this Tuesday to improve on her performance from last year – when she was surprisingly defeated by Andreeva in the same round. She will face a more than familiar opponent: China's Zheng Qinwen, against whom she has a favorable 6-1 head-to-head record.

The Zheng-Sabalenka matchup has been one of the most anticipated in the last couple of seasons, although in the first six encounters, Sabalenka always claimed the victory. Everything changed a couple of weeks ago at the Rome Open, when Zheng finally overcame her bane, winning 6-4, 6-3 in what was their only clay-court encounter.

Zheng looks inspired at this Roland Garros, the same stage where less than a year ago she won the gold medal at the Olympic Games. It's a perfect scenario for the Chinese player to defeat Sabalenka again, though the Belarusian will surely not be overly confident for their second clay-court encounter.

Swiatek vs. Svitolina

The three-time defending champion Iga Swiatek saved herself from disaster against Elena Rybakina in the fourth round, after being down 1-6, 0-2. The Pole seemed lost in a match where she made numerous errors and struggled against Rybakina's consistency. However, she managed to turn things around and ultimately clinched a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory in one of the best matches of the tournament so far.

The Pole has now reached 25 consecutive wins at Roland Garros and will look to return to the semifinals against Elina Svitolina. She has bad memories facing the Ukrainian, after being surprisingly eliminated by Svitolina in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon 2023, when the Pole was the world No. 1 and had been on a virtually unbeatable streak for months.

Svitolina is one of the few who knows how to trouble Swiatek and it will be a difficult challenge. The former No. 3 defeated last year's finalist Jasmine Paolini, snapping her 9-match winning streak on clay. With extensive experience in these types of stages, she will look to return to a Grand Slam semifinal. She has appeared four times in the French Open quarterfinals but has never been able to advance past them. The head-to-head currently favors the Pole 3-1, including their only clay-court encounter back at the Rome Open 2021 – where Swiatek ultimately won the title.

2025 Roland Garros (03-06)

Court Philippe Chatrier

Quarterfinal (Women's Singles)
11:00AM Local
Aryna Sabalenka 1
Qinwen Zheng 8
Quarterfinal (Women's Singles)
12:10PM Local
Elina Svitolina 13
Iga Swiatek 5

This article first appeared on TennisUpToDate.com and was syndicated with permission.

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