For all that Swiatek has dominated the French Open in recent years, Sabalenka is the player to beat this time around.
She has won three titles this year – including one on the Madrid clay – and reached two further finals, as well as strengthening her grip on the top ranking.
But her three-set defeat to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final stung – and she looks on a mission to avenge that loss.
Zheng had cause for optimism. She snapped a six-match losing streak to Sabalenka on the Rome clay in May and ultimately started the better of the two.
However, the mistakes were the difference, with Zheng committing 31 unforced errors to Sabalenka’s 18 and winning just 39% of points behind her second serve.
Sabalenka was visibly unimpressed with the wind, her game, and finding herself down an early break in the first set, but she generated enough rhythm to break back for 4-4.
The top seed dominated the eventual tie-break, taking it on a long whipped forehand from Zheng, and repeatedly battled back from 0-30 down in her service games to keep the second set close.
The pair exchanged breaks before Zheng played her worst game of the match to hurry Sabalenka along to a 4-3 lead.
Sabalenka’s quality then shone through as, with Zheng 40-0 up and serving to stay in the match, she hammered winners past her opponent to seal the match as quickly as possible.
