PARIS (Reuters) - Having already set a French Open personal best, Shuai Zhang hopes to go one better on Friday against eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
After four successive first-round losses on clay, China's highest-ranked player came to Roland Garros with low expectations.
But two close wins have propelled hard court specialist Zhang, seeded 32, to within touching distance of the last 16.
The 28-year-old from Tianjin will probably have to raise her game again to overcome the tenacious Russian, three years her senior, who reached the semi-finals in Madrid in mid-May.