Trailing 5-0 in the third set against No. 22 seed Madison Keys, Qinwen Zheng staged a thrilling comeback by winning the next seven games to secure a 1-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory on Saturday and reach the fourth round of the U.S. Open in New York.
Zheng, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist from China, held serve while trailing 5-0, then saved a match point with Keys serving at 5-1. Zheng broke the 2017 U.S. Open runner-up three times during her seven-game run before serving out the improbable victory in two hours, 28 minutes.
“I’m just telling myself (to) keep holding every single point, never give up, stay there and somehow, little by little, it just happened,” Zheng said in her on-court interview.
In 2024, when she won gold at the Olympics after advancing to the Australian Open final, Zheng was ranked as high as No. 4. However, following right elbow surgery, she is at No. 121 and had to make it through qualifying just to reach the main draw at the U.S. Open.
“After the surgery, it was not easy,” Zheng said. “It felt like I lost a bit of my energy on the tennis court. I’ve been through really tough (moments) these last three, four, five months.
“But we’ve been working really hard … and yeah, the hard work finally paid off a bit. I want to say thanks to my team first for bringing me here. Let’s keep going.”
Keys, who won her previous match after facing five match points, came out firing in the first set, winning in 23 minutes after capturing 20 of the final 23 points. Zheng turned it around in the second set, which went to a tiebreaker, and won six of the last seven points with three winners to force the decisive third set.
Up next for Zheng will be Polish No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek, a former world No. 1 who defeated No. 25 seed Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3) to reach the fourth round.
Zheng wasn’t the only player to pull an upset, as No. 24 seed Anastasia Potapova of Austria took down No. 10 Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 7-5 in one hour, 39 minutes.
Potapova, who was on the verge of falling out of the top 100 this spring, has worked her way back into the top 25 as she advanced to the fourth round of the U.S. Open for the first time.
After breezing through the first set, Potapova was broken twice as Anisimova took the lead, but the Austrian broke back both times en route to the straight-sets victory.
“Well, to be honest, we had tactics before the match, which don’t match my game, so it already was not easy,” Potapova said in her press conference. “But the way I managed to use the tactics, I think it’s one of the best games that I’ve ever had.”
Anisimova, who advanced to the final at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2025 and reached the Australian Open quarterfinals this year, was ousted in the third round of the last three Grand Slams this year. She converted just 3 of 16 break-point chances, compared to 6 of 8 for Potapova, a native of Russia who now represents Austria.
Potapova will next face Russian No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva, who took out unseeded Czech Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Other winners Saturday included No. 4 seed Coco Gauff, who defeated unseeded Spaniard Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 6-4 to reach the Round of 16 for the fifth consecutive year, and No. 21 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia, who defeated Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.
Later Saturday, No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan faces unseeded Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, No. 13 seed Naomi Osaka of Japan takes on 23rd-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium and No. 14 seed Iva Jovic opposes Alexandra Eala, the No. 17 seed from the Philippines.
–Field Level Media
