No. 3 seed Zheng Qinwen of China cruised through a marquee second-round match at the Credit One Charleston Open on Wednesday night, defeating Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-4, 6-1 to reach the Round of 16.
Charleston: Draws | Scores | Order of play
Making her first Charleston appearance since her tournament debut in 2022, reigning Olympic gold medalist Zheng needed 1 hour and 32 minutes to oust former World No. 3 Sakkari, who made last year's Charleston semifinals.
"[I knew] when I have to attack, when I have to defend, because everybody here is going to make the transition from hard to clay," Zheng said in her on-court interview. "I believe who does that better here can win the the tournament."
Here are some takeaways from the match:
Zheng continues clay-court winning streak: Sakkari came into the match with a 2-1 head-to-head lead over Zheng, but all of those previous encounters had been on hard court.
Clay is a different story. Prior to this week, Zheng's most recent event on the surface was her historic run to the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which took place on the famed clay of Roland Garros.
Zheng carried that clay-court confidence into this evening's meeting. She has now won 12 consecutive matches on the surface (she preceded her Olympics run by defending her title at Palermo).
Meanwhile, Sakkari has seen her ranking slip from No. 7 to No. 64 in the last 12 months, and she is 6-11 on the year. Sakkari was aiming for her first Top 10 win in over a year, but she fell to 0-8 against the Top 10 since she beat Coco Gauff at 2024 Indian Wells.
Power shots propel Zheng ahead: Zheng's game serves her well on clay, where her strong, deep forehands command the court. She used that wing to grind through a lengthy 3-3 game and earn the only break of the first set.
Last year's ace leader on the Hologic WTA Tour, Zheng's first serve also continues to be a huge advantage, including on clay. She powered a big serve to save a break point while consolidating for 5-3, eventually easing to the one-set lead.
Zheng's first serve held sway in the second set as well. It made a huge difference when she got that shot into play -- Zheng won 87.5 percent of her first-serve points but was more vulnerable behind her second serve, winning only one-third of those points.
Regardless, Zheng executed enough of those first serves to ease to victory without being broken (she went 2-for-2 on break points saved). Naturally, her final shot was a hefty forehand to force an error and seal match point.
First-time opponent awaits: Next up for Zheng will be a Round of 16 meeting with No. 13 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium. In Wednesday's final match on Credit One Stadium, Mertens beat Varvara Gracheva of France 6-3, 7-5.
A new look for Zheng will be guaranteed -- she has never faced former Top 15 player Mertens.
