China's Zheng reaches last 16 in Italian Open

ROME -- China's Zheng Qinwen secured a place in the round of 16 for the third consecutive year by defeating Poland's Magdalena Frech 6-3, 6-2 at the WTA Italian Open here on Sunday.

The two players split victories in their previous two meetings. This was their first meeting on clay. Zheng came out firing in the opening set, racing into a commanding 5-0 lead. Frech responded by holding serve and breaking once to close the gap to 3-5, firing two aces in the eighth game. However, Zheng steadied herself to serve out the set 6-3.

After clinching the first set, Zheng let out a loud roar.

"I've lost to quite a few players on clay who just keep lobbing high balls at me," Zheng said after the match. "It gets on my nerves when they do that, so when I hit a winner, I just need to let it out to pump myself up."

In the second set, Zheng broke early and consolidated for a 2-0 lead. Though Frech leveled the score at 2-2, Zheng regained control with a crucial break in the fifth game and surged ahead, reeling off the final four games to seal a 6-2 victory.

Zheng was particularly efficient with her drop shots throughout the match. "I noticed my opponent kept moving back, so I wanted to mix up the depth of my shots to disrupt her rhythm," Zheng explained. "I also saw her footwork wasn't that quick. On clay, drop shots can be a really effective weapon."

In the next round, Zheng will face former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu of Canada.