Playing her first match since the Ostrava final, Swiatek weathered both the rainy conditions and Zheng's heavy power game to earn her tour-leading 61st win of the year. San Diego will be her 12th quarterfinal of the season, also a tour-leading mark.
"Qinwen, she has a different game style because she's playing topspin on her forehand and the ball is flying pretty high," Swiatek said. "So today I had to adjust to that.
"But overall, the first matches of any tournament is about adjusting to the conditions we have here."
After a short rain delay, Swiatek pocketed the opening set with solid baseline play, absorbing Zheng's heavy pace and using her courtcraft to open up space on the court. After saving the only break point she faced in the set, Swiatek broke with a clean forehand return at 4-all and served out the opener. She out-hit Zheng with 11 winners to 6 and limited Zheng's second-serve success to 40%.
The second set went with serve before Zheng found herself facing multiple break points at 4-all. Zheng saved all five break points she faced before holding to 5-4, saving the first two with clean winners and engineering an audacious serve-and-volley play on the third. In the next game, Zheng finally broke Swiatek's serve to force the Pole into her third consecutive three-set match.
Turning point: Zheng earned an early break point at 1-0 in the final set, but Swiatek fought it off with just her second ace of the day. Swiatek went on to hold and broke Zheng for the first time since the first set to lead 2-1. With the lead in hand, Swiatek broke once more and took care of her serve to close out the win.
The victory moves Swiatek to 14-4 in three-set matches this season. She has not lost in the opening round of a tournament since 2021 Cincinnati, over a year ago.
Stat of the match: With titles in Indian Wells, Miami, and the US Open, she is now 21-1 in the United States this season.
The French Open final rematch is on: Swiatek will face No.8 Gauff in a rematch of the French Open final. It will be the third meeting between the two junior contemporaries but their first on a hard court. Swiatek has won all four sets they've played, first in Rome last year and Paris this spring.
Officially the player with most matches won on tour this year (since Caro Wozniacki with 60 in 2017).
2 more wins and she'll equal Angie Kerber in 2016. Unreal.
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