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PARIS — Zheng Qinwen, who won Olympic gold at Roland Garros two years ago, has exited the French Open in the first round.
Zheng, a quarterfinalist last year, produced an error-strewn performance in the face of a masterclass in variation from Poland’s world No. 114, Maja Chwalińska, who completed a 6-4, 6-0 win. Zheng also received lengthy treatment for a foot problem down 3-0 in the second set in what were sweltering conditions on an exposed Court 7.
It’s another tough setback for a player who has been plagued by injury since becoming Olympic champion at the 2024 Paris Games. An ongoing right elbow injury required surgery in July and restricted her to 32 matches last year. Zheng returned in February after five months out, but has won just seven matches in 2026, only able to produce her best tennis in patches. She will fall out of the world’s top 100 after this defeat, from her current ranking of No. 56, leaving her in the previously unimaginable position of having to qualify for the biggest events.
Zheng played with so little margin Monday that when things started to go wrong, they went very wrong. She produced 23 unforced errors in 16 games, which amounted to 25 percent of the points played in the match, and a double fault to finish was a fittingly sorry ending. Chwalińska readily exploited her opponent’s seemingly inhibited movement and lack of control with heavy forehands that Zheng simply couldn’t get a handle on.
At 23, Zheng has plenty of time left to get her career back on track, but such a drop in the rankings is rough news for her and the tour in general. She is a magnetic personality with a huge following, and has shown with her Olympic title, and her run to the 2024 Australian Open final, that she can deliver on the biggest stages. The Paris success two years ago included Zheng inflicting Iga Świątek’s first defeat at Roland Garros in 26 matches.
Now she’ll have to reckon with playing second-tier events, in order to qualify for the Grand Slams and WTA 1000s, the next rung. down. Chwalińska meanwhile kept her composure on the other side of the net to win only her second ever Grand Slam main-draw match. She’ll next face No. 23 seed Elise Mertens or Tatjana Maria in the second round.
