Zheng Qinwen pulled off another US Open stunner Monday, beating Iga Swiatek to book a quarter final with Elena Rybakina as men’s top seed Alexander Zverev advanced safely to the last eight.<\/p>\n
It was one more gritty comeback for Zheng, the Paris Olympics gold medallist and a former world number four now ranked 121st after struggling in the wake of elbow surgery last year.<\/p>\n
Zheng had won the last seven games, saving a match point, as she shocked Madison Keys in her previous match.<\/p>\n
After falling behind 5-0 in the first set against six-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek she again reeled off seven straight games.<\/p>\n
She then broke Swiatek twice in the second set to clinch the win.<\/p>\n
“I guess to come back from 0-5 (Saturday) is not lucky, that’s all I can say,” said Zheng, who had to come through qualifying to gain a main draw berth.<\/p>\n
Zheng, the first qualifier to beat Swiatek at a major, said it took her some time to settle in on the cavernous Ashe court, noting it’s been “a long, long time” since she’d been scheduled on a main show court.<\/p>\n
“I just focus on point by point,” Zheng said, adding that she was so focused on the rallies that she lost track of the score.<\/p>\n
Swiatek, who fell to Zheng in the gold medal match in Paris two years ago, left the Arthur Ashe Stadium in tears, although she later downplayed the upset.<\/p>\n
“You can lose a set from any score, so nothing special about that,” she said.<\/p>\n
Zheng is the first qualifier to reach the US Open women’s quarter-finals since Emma Raducanu — who went on to win the title — in 2021.<\/p>\n
She’ll next face world number two Rybakina, the reigning Australian Open champion who cruised past a hurting Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-4 in just 66 minutes.<\/p>\n
Rybakina is not only chasing a third Grand Slam title. If she beats Zheng to reach the semi-finals she will seize the number one ranking from Aryna Sabalenka — even if the Belarusian wins a third straight crown.<\/p>\n
“Of course I want it,” Rybakina said.<\/p>\n
But, she added: “I try to approach the same, fight to the end my next match — let’s see what will happen.”<\/p>\n
Fourth-seeded Coco Gauff reached the quarter-finals for the first time since she won the title in 2023, beating 18-year-old US compatriot Iva Jovic 6-1, 6-4.<\/p>\n
Gauff next faces fifth-seeded French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 winner over Anastasia Potapova.<\/p>\n
Zverev once again closed the action on Ashe, beating 21st-seeded Italian Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7\/3).<\/p>\n
The French Open champion has become a late-night fixture, playing into the small hours in his first three matches, including two five-setters.<\/p>\n
He was in control against Darderi, saving the lone break point he faced and cruising through the first two sets before Darderi stepped things up to force the third-set tiebreaker.<\/p>\n
Zverev wrapped it up quickly there, giving himself a match point with a forehand winner to the corner and finished up before midnight with an ace.<\/p>\n
Zverev will play Botic van de Zandschulp for a place in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n
The Dutch player saved a match point as he rallied from two sets down to beat France’s Arthur Gea 3-6, 6-7 (0\/7), 7-6 (9\/7), 7-6 (7\/3), 6-4 in a match lasting five hours and 13 minutes.<\/p>\n
Van de Zandschulp is back in the quarter-finals for the first time since 2021, although he made waves in 2024 with a second-round upset of Carlos Alcaraz.<\/p>\n
Alexander Blockx’s dream debut continued with a gritty 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 victory over Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo, which made the 21-year-old the first Belgian man to reach the US open last eight.<\/p>\n
Blockx, who started the year ranked outside the top 100, said he was “close to retiring” because of sharp pain in an injured rib in the first set.<\/p>\n
He next faces Karen Khachanov after the Russian beat 14th-seeded American Learner Tien 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 (6\/8), 6-1, 6-4.<\/p>\n
bb\/rcw<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zheng Qinwen pulled off another US Open stunner Monday, beating Iga Swiatek to book a quarter final with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[26232,26227,26165,26191,26230,26176,18645,26196,22898,9381,26187,19281,26208,23394,26219,16071,26216,23771,26211,23162,26185,14803,26192,26231,26218,26209,26199,26184,26207,26175,18242,26194,26228,26183,16057,18806,24346,26205,26188,15698,26198,26240,2809,243,531,26186,26225,406,26224,515,26159,26221,253,312,26220,217,10142,25844,7620,271,26170,18237,26083,26178,26213,26167,246,241,520,26166,26193,26203,115,1022,207,512,26180,26174,247,3038,26179,1742,26239,26163,26200,1897,751,601,23430,4628,26222,270,84,26173,26160,513,510,523,530,517,254,518,10494,4358,220,3270,5990,7482,26177,26237,26204,26223,50,3133,23122,28,26197,26172,21907,26189,26156,26164,14907,26181,26171,15748,26158,16348,26236,26157,26215,26201,26212,26214,26206,16203,26161,26226,20150,18204,26169,15704,26234,26210,26202,26195,22189,14798,26233,4701,26235,26162,16405,14878,26182,20277,516,26229,26217,23126,16024,514,25985,529,2523,26168,26238,16138,5054,26190],"class_list":["post-68436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-french-open","tag-the-french-open-champion","tag-0-5","tag-0-7","tag-121st","tag-13-minutes-van","tag-18-year-old-us-compatriot-iva-jovic-6-1","tag-18645","tag-2021-she","tag-22898","tag-9381","tag-21st-seeded-italian-luciano-darderi","tag-4-6","tag-5-0","tag-6-2","tag-6-3-winner","tag-6-4","tag-6-4-gauff","tag-6-7","tag-6-8","tag-7-5","tag-7-5-victory","tag-7-6","tag-7-3","tag-9-7","tag-a-5-7","tag-a-forehand-winner","tag-a-former-world-number-four","tag-a-gritty-6-3","tag-a-hurting-naomi-osaka-6-1","tag-a-late-night-fixture","tag-a-long","tag-a-main-draw-berth-zheng","tag-a-main-show-court","tag-a-major","tag-a-match","tag-a-match-point","tag-a-place","tag-a-quarter-final","tag-a-second-round-upset","tag-a-set","tag-a-third-grand-slam-title","tag-a-third-straight-crown","tag-alexander-blockx","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-american-edition","tag-an-ace-zverev","tag-an-injured-rib","tag-anastasia-potapova","tag-anastasia-potapova-zverev","tag-andreeva-mirra","tag-another-us-open-stunner","tag-any-score","tag-argentina","tag-arthur-ashe-stadium","tag-arthur-gea-3-6","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-ashe","tag-book","tag-botic-van-de-zandschulp","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-carlos-alcaraz-alexander-blockx","tag-control","tag-darderi","tag-de-zandschulp","tag-dream-debut","tag-elbow-surgery","tag-elena-rybakina","tag-emma-raducanu","tag-english","tag-fifth-seeded-french-open-champion-mirra-andreeva","tag-five-hours","tag-fourth-seeded-coco-gauff","tag-france","tag-francisco-cerundolo","tag-french-open","tag-global-edition","tag-her-previous-match-after","tag-his-first-three-matches","tag-iga-swiatek","tag-iva-jovic","tag-just-66-minutes-rybakina","tag-karen-khachanov","tag-last-eight-blockx","tag-last-year-zheng","tag-long-time","tag-luciano-darderi","tag-madison-keys","tag-men","tag-midnight","tag-monday","tag-my-next-match","tag-naomi-osaka","tag-new-york","tag-nothing-special","tag-one-more-gritty-comeback","tag-online-news-en","tag-online-news-en_sports","tag-online-news-en_top-stories-int","tag-online-news-en_us-sports","tag-open","tag-paris","tag-parisfr","tag-point","tag-quarter-finals","tag-roland-garros","tag-rybakina","tag-saturday","tag-seeded","tag-seven-straight-games-she","tag-sharp-pain","tag-six-time-grand-slam-champion-swiatek","tag-some-time","tag-sports","tag-swiatek","tag-tears","tag-tennis","tag-the-21-year-old","tag-the-action","tag-the-arthur-ashe-stadium","tag-the-belarusian","tag-the-cavernous-ashe-court","tag-the-corner","tag-the-end","tag-the-first-belgian-man","tag-the-first-qualifier","tag-the-first-set","tag-the-first-set-he-next","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-first-two-sets","tag-the-gold-medal-match","tag-the-last-eight","tag-the-last-seven-games","tag-the-lone-break-point","tag-the-number-one-ranking","tag-the-paris-olympics-gold-medallist","tag-the-quarter-finals","tag-the-rallies","tag-the-reigning-australian-open-champion","tag-the-russian","tag-the-same","tag-the-score-swiatek","tag-the-second-set","tag-the-semi-finals","tag-the-semi-finals-the-dutch-player","tag-the-small-hours","tag-the-third-set-tiebreaker-zverev","tag-the-title","tag-the-top-100","tag-the-upset","tag-the-us-open","tag-the-us-open-women","tag-the-wake","tag-the-win","tag-the-year","tag-tien-7-5","tag-top-seed","tag-top-stories","tag-track","tag-two-five-setters-he","tag-two-sets","tag-two-years","tag-united-states","tag-us-open-quarter-finals","tag-us-sports","tag-usa","tag-waves","tag-world-number-two-rybakina","tag-zheng","tag-zheng-qinwen","tag-zverev-and-rybakina"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}