Petra Kvitova won 6-2, 6-4 after 85 minutes under the roof on Court Philippe Chatrier.
“It was a tough match,” Kvitova told on-court interviewer Fabrice Santoro. “Shuai served really well.”
After romping through the first set, Kvitova broke early in the second set and again to lead 5-2 with her service to follow.
Hiccup
But it was on the point of victory that the jitters descended and she lost her serve for the first time in the match.
She notched up a match point in Zhang Shuai’s subsequent service game but squandered that with another wild backhand lunge.
However she made no mistake at the second time of asking.
The Czech, who won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014, will play the unseeded German Laura Siegemund in the last eight after she beat the unseeded Spaniard Paula Badosa 7-5, 6-2 at a Grand Slam for the first time in more than a decade on the senior circuit.
