Three to See, French Open fourth round: Can Zheng Qinwen snap Iga Swiatek's 31-match win streak? Plus: Rublev vs. Sinner; Tsitsipas vs. Rune

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Iga Swiatek vs. Zheng Qinwen

Would you have believed, before Roland Garros began, that a round-of-16 encounter between Swiatek and Zheng would feel like the marquee match of the tournament on the women’s side? One week in, that’s where we are, for three reasons: (1) Swiatek has been as dominant as we thought she would be in extending her five-event win streak; (2) every other Top 10 women’s seed has been eliminated; and (3) the 19-year-old Zheng has emerged as a major-league shot-maker and potential future star. Hence, this match feels a lot more intriguing than it might have a week ago.

It’s also intriguing because these two have never met, so we don’t know whose baseline attack will gain supremacy, or how Zheng will hold up under Swiatek’s seemingly peerless ground-stroke combinations. We can only guess that Zheng will have more success than others have recently—and that it won’t be enough. We can only hope that we leave the match wishing for more from these two in the future. Winner: Swiatek

UPDATE: Zheng saved five set points and takes the first set in a tiebreak...before Swiatek won 12 of the last 14 games.

Andrey Rublev vs. Jannik Sinner

If Billboard made a chart of potential future men’s Grand Slam champions, Rublev and Sinner would probably go into the “Bubbling Under” section at the end. Both of them can blast with the best, but thus far both lack the varied attack or grinding consistency that have brought Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev to major finals. That doesn’t mean the 20-year-old Italian and the 24-year-old Russian will never get there; the winner of this match will find himself in the rarefied air of a Roland Garros quarterfinal, on a side of the draw that doesn’t include Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Carlos Alcaraz.

So who is more likely to make it there? Rublev is ranked higher, No. 7 to Sinner’s No. 12. But Sinner has won their only two completed matches, both of which were on clay, and one of which came just a month ago in Monte Carlo. For Rublev to turn that around, he’ll have to find a way to keep his relatively weak second serve from being punished. That won’t be easy. Winner: Sinner

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Holger Rune

If Zheng is the breakout teen on the women’s side, that honor belongs to the 19-year-old Rune on the men’s—Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune, to be exact. We’ve known the Dane was was one to watch out for ever since he took a set from Djokovic in the first round at the US Open last year. But the ease with which he has reached his first round-of-16 at a major has been eye-opening. He hasn’t dropped a set in three wins, one of which came over 14th seed Denis Shapovalov. Now, in his first meeting with Tsitsipas, we’ll see how his muscular game holds up against Top 5 competition.

The Greek has been tested twice here, by Lorenzo Musetti and Zdenek Kolar, but he has responded with maximum grit both times. I wouldn’t expect anything less if Rune pushes him in this one. Winner: Tsitsipas