Watch moment female tennis star is smashed in face with ball forcing match to be stopped at French Open

THIS is the moment poor Yang Zhaoxuan takes one plum in the face at the French Open – and almost suffered significant eye damage.

Standing close to the net, the Chinese player was accidentally hurt in the first set of her women’s doubles second-round match on Court No.1.

During a rally in the eighth game, the Chinese came off worse when a ball was thundered across the net by French star Diane Parry.

Yang collapsed to her haunches in agony, her concerned Polish teammate Alicja Rosolsk ran to her aid and the match at Roland Garros understandably had to be stopped.

The umpire called a medical timeout, allowing Yang to take a breather on her chair.

The ball struck her just below the right eye and she needed an ice pack to quell the bruising to her cheek.

A trainer came on court to assess the cheekbone injury and to check if anything had been broken.

She was given the all-clear to continue playing on the hottest day of the Championships this year.

It could have been a much worse situation but thankfully after several minutes she able to carry on.

Yang, 24, is a doubles specialist and reached the French Open semi-finals with Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching in 2018.

The No.13 seeds did not last very long, losing 7-5 4-6 6-4 to the French wildcards Parry and Fiona Ferro, who advance to the third round.

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