Zheng Qinwen survived a scare to reach the Queen’s Club quarterfinals as the Chinese top seed beat McCartney Kessler 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 on Thursday.
Zheng trailed 4-2 in the final set of the last 16 clash against the world number 42.
But the Paris Olympic champion roared back to avoid a shock defeat at the Wimbledon warm-up event in west London.
Zheng beat Donna Vekic on the clay at Roland Garros last year to become the first Asian player to win Olympic gold in a singles event and also reached the Australian Open final in 2024.
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The 22-year-old, currently fifth in the WTA rankings, bowed out in the French Open quarterfinals recently and is hoping to make her first strong run at Wimbledon, where she has never been past the third round in three visits.
Success at Queen’s would be a significant boost to her Wimbledon aspirations and next up for the Chinese star is a last eight clash with former US Open champion Emma Raducanu.
In the first women’s event at Queen’s for 52 years, 2022 Wimbledon champion and fourth seed Elena Rybakina made the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Britain’s Heather Watson.
Rybakina will play Germany’s Tatjana Maria in the last eight on Friday, while Australian Open holder Madison Keys faces Shnaider and Emma Navarro takes on fellow American Amanda Anisimova.
