Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic plays a shot against China's Zhang Shuai in the fourth round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Oct 5, 2020. (MICHEL EULER / AP)

PARIS - Petra Kvitova managed to return to the quarterfinals at Roland Garros for the first time since 2012 after a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 dismissal of China's Zhang Shuai in the opening game on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Monday.

Petra Kvitova went into the match quickly as she broke her Chinese opponent twice to surge to a 4-0 lead in the opening set, before serving for the set in the eighth game

The previous best for the No 7 seed in Paris was the semifinals in 2012 when she lost to eventual champion Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-3.

"I got a bit emotional last two points of my match. I really started to think still about the match because in tennis we really never know when it's the end. But my memories, happy memories, when I made my comeback here in 2017, when I step on the Philippe Chatrier, I couldn't really imagine me to be in the quarterfinal of this slam. Everything just came back to me," said Kvitova, who was attacked by a break-in knife-wielding robber at her home in the Czech Republic during the off-season of 2016 which left her dominant left hand seriously injured. It was at Roland Garros that the two-time Grand Slam champion made her comeback.

"It's been long ride definitely. Everything came to my mind when I had my whole family, people who I loved to help me through the tough, tough time," said Kvitova. "I was just playing in the Philippe Chatrier, it was such nice to win the match and to be in the quarterfinal."

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Kvitova went into the match quickly as she broke her Chinese opponent twice to surge to a 4-0 lead in the opening set, before serving for the set in the eighth game.

"She played really really well today. I think everything is tough. My ball is very short and she opened the court very nice and used very nice winners," said the world 39th-ranked Zhang, who has also achieved a personal best at Roland Garros by reaching the fourth round.

The Czech player fired 23 winners in the match in which she converted four of her nine break points. Despite missing a chance of serving for the win in the eighth game of the second set at 5-2, she clinched it when opportunity appeared again in the tenth to wrap up the victory with a love game.

Next up for Kvitova is Germany's Laura Segemund, who dispatched Spaniard Paula Badosa 7-5, 6-2 to advance.