Zheng Qinwen won the last seven games to stun Madison Keys and reach the US Open last 16 in a day of upsets that dented American hopes on Saturday at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n
Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff battled through in straight sets, but Americans were hard hit with ninth-seeded Taylor Fritz and 2025 finalist Amanda Anisimova following Keys out the door.<\/p>\n
Fifth-seeded French Open finalist Flavio Cobolli of Italy also fell to 21-year-old Alexander Blockx.<\/p>\n
Zheng saved a match point in her 1-6, 7-6 (7\/3), 7-5 triumph over Keys, the 2025 Australian Open champion and a US Open finalist back in 2017.<\/p>\n
After coming through the second-set tiebreaker, Zheng appeared to be out of steam in the final set.<\/p>\n
The former world number four had to come through qualifying after a lengthy recovery from elbow surgery saw her ranking plummet.<\/p>\n
Keys raced to a 5-0 lead in the third but Zheng had a last stand in her. She saved match point at 5-1 and just kept rolling, Keys’s increasing frustration showing as she banged her head with her racquet after one lost point.<\/p>\n
“I just told myself keep holding every single point, never give up, stay there. And somehow little by little it just happened,” Zheng said.<\/p>\n
Zheng, currently ranked 121st in the world, will face six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek for a place in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
Swiatek saved three set points in the second set, dominating both tiebreakers in her tight 7-6 (7\/3), 7-6 (7\/3) win over Czech Maria Bouzkova.<\/p>\n
Belgium’s Blockx shocked Cobolli 6-7 (4\/7), 6-3, 6-0, 6-3, winning 11 straight games from 3-2 down in the second set as he reached the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time.<\/p>\n
“I think this was one of my craziest experiences so far in my career,” Blockx said after firing 17 aces past Cobolli.<\/p>\n
“After the first set I told myself to stay calm. I wasn’t playing bad. I know deep inside I’m a fighter and I will fight until the last ball and it paid off today.”<\/p>\n
Blockx next faces Francisco Cerundolo, who rallied from two sets down to upset ninth-seeded Fritz 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.<\/p>\n
Down 4-3 on serve in the final set, the 24th seed from Argentina fought back from 0-40 down to hold, coming up with a trio of booming serves and a thundering forehand before taking the game with another service winner.<\/p>\n
He then broke Fritz and cruised home.<\/p>\n
Austrian Anastasia Potapova further dented US hopes with her 6-2, 7-5 victory over Anisimova.<\/p>\n
Potapova reached the US Open fourth round for the first time, and will face fifth-seeded French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, who beat Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 7-6 (7\/5).<\/p>\n
– Zverev under the lights –<\/p>\n
Former champion Gauff shook off a slow start to beat Spain’s Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 6-4, relying on her defensive skills as she climbed out of a 3-1 hole in the opening set.<\/p>\n
“She’s a tricky player, so it’s tough to get rhythm,” Gauff said. “Happy with how I fought through even when I wasn’t playing my best.”<\/p>\n
Gauff said she’d seen the US trio go down before her match, but it didn’t affect how she approached her match.<\/p>\n
“Upsets are a thing, but at the end of the day, anybody can lose,” she said. “I go into it with that mindset, and I think, if anything, it makes me have my guard up all the time, which makes me play better.”<\/p>\n
Men’s top seed Alexander Zverev was again due to close out the night session, taking on Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.<\/p>\n
In two five-set matches, both spilling into the early hours of the morning, the German has already spent nine hours and 26 minutes on court.<\/p>\n
Zverev says he feels fine physically, but he knows he will have to play better if he wants to add a second Grand Slam title to the French Open trophy he captured this year.<\/p>\n
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