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Rybakina fell behind early, as she had in her previous match, but triumphed 4-6 6-4 6-3 in two hours and 23 minutes against the Chinese.

While Rybakina got the match underway with a hold of serve to love, her strong serving wavered in the fifth game as Zheng got the vital break to take a 3-2 lead, converting the only break point of the first set.

The pair started the second by trading breaks, with Rybakina immediately cancelling out Zheng's advantage, and the Olympic gold medal winner from China  had to fend off three more break points to pull level at 3-3.

However, Rybakina forced a decider on her second set point to keep the match alive.

The Kazakh fended off three break points early in the third set before the pair again traded breaks, but Rybakina had the advantage at 4-2 and held on to convert her second match point.

Rybakina has now claimed the most wins in 2026 with 27 victories, and that includes ATP-level matches, surpassing men's world No.1 Jannik Sinner, who has 26 wins.

The Australian Open champion is also the only player able to reach the last 16 at each of the first five WTA-1000 events this season – Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid.

Rybakina's run since last year's Madrid Open has seen her claim the most wins at WTA-level, with an impressive tally of 69 match victories in that time.

She followed Marta Kostyuk into the fourth round, after the Ukrainian stunned Jessica Pegula in straight sets earlier in the day.

Kostyuk claimed a 6-1 6-4 victory over the American, showing her mettle as she saved 10 of the 11 break points she faced.

Pegula attempted a late fightback, but it was too little, too late as she crashed out of the tournament.