Zheng Qinwen hit a 13-yard run to reach the quarter-finals of the Athens Open, making his first tour-level quarter-final in a year, showing his desire to become a more complete player.
The Paris Olympic champion cruised past Australia’s Elena Micic 6-4, 6-1 in the second round of the WTA 250 event earlier on Thursday, moving her up the WTA rankings to No. 121.
Zheng, who needs to win the Greek championship to qualify for the main draw of the upcoming US Open, will face Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, world number 32, or France’s 204th-ranked Carole Monnet on Friday for a place in the semi-finals.
The match proved less challenging than Zheng’s opening-round win over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro, with the 22-year-old Micic recording just one main draw win on the WTA tour and ranked outside the top 250.
The Chinese star got an early break in the opening set. Both players served until the end of the set, which Zheng won 6-4 on the strength of that one break.
Zheng broke again at the start of the second set, which quickly turned into a one-sided affair as she held and broke repeatedly to sweep the set 6-1.
