New York (AFP) – 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. 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. Zheng had won the last seven games, saving a match point, as she shocked Madison Keys in her previous match.
After falling behind 5-0 in the first set against six-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek, she again reeled off seven straight games. She then broke Swiatek twice in the second set to clinch the win. “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. 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.
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“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. 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. “You can lose a set from any score, so nothing special about that,” she said.
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. 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. 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. “Of course I want it,” Rybakina said. But, she added: “I try to approach the same, fight to the end my next match — let’s see what will happen.”
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. Gauff next faces fifth-seeded French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 winner over Anastasia Potapova. Zverev once again closed the action on Ashe, beating 21st-seeded Italian Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7/3). The French Open champion has become a late-night fixture, playing into the small hours in his first three matches, including two five-setters.
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. 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. Zverev will play Botic van de Zandschulp for a place in the semi-finals.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
© 2024 AFP
