Zheng Qinwen erases another 5-0 deficit and beats Iga Swiatek to reach US Open quarterfinals
From the Brink of Elimination: Zheng Qinwen’s Relentless Comeback Sends Her Deeper Into Flushing Meadows
Bharatmorningnews.com – For the second consecutive match at this year’s U.S. Open, Zheng Qinwen found herself staring down a five-game hole and chose to claw her way back out of it. On Monday, the Chinese qualifier dismantled No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek with a 7-5, 6-3 victory, propelling herself into the quarterfinals and etching her name into tournament history in the process.
The result marks the first time since Emma Raducanu lifted the 2021 title that a player entering through qualifying has advanced to the final eight at Flushing Meadows. Raducanu’s triumph five years earlier had made her the first qualifier to claim a Grand Slam championship in the Open era, which began in 1968. Zheng’s run now echoes that landmark achievement, though at a different stage of the bracket.
A Pattern of Survival
The comeback was not an isolated incident. Just two days earlier, Zheng had been trailing 5-0 in the third set against No. 22 Madison Keys before winning the final seven games in a sequence to close out a 1-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 upset. Against Swiatek, the 2022 U.S. Open champion, Zheng again surrendered the first five games of the match before regrouping and taking control.
“I guess to come back 0-5 yesterday is not lucky, that’s all I can say,” Zheng remarked after the match.
Her composure under pressure proved decisive in the opening set. Swiatek, serving at 5-1, failed to cash in two set points. Later, with a 5-3 advantage on her own serve, the Polish star again fell short. Zheng, for her part, described being so locked into each individual point that she lost track of the scoreboard entirely.
The Road to the Main Draw
Reaching this stage required a journey far longer than most players in the draw. Zheng had reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open in both 2023 and 2024, but elbow surgery forced her to rebuild her game and re-enter the tour through the qualifying rounds this season. That path — grinding through three qualifying matches before earning a main-draw berth — made her Monday victory all the more remarkable in context.
Head-to-Head History and the Paris Exception
Going into Monday’s contest, Swiatek held a commanding 7-1 record against Zheng. The lone blemish in that ledger dates to the Olympic semifinals in Paris two years ago, when Zheng erased a 4-0 deficit in the second set to halt a 25-match winning streak at Roland Garros. That streak had been built atop four French Open titles for Swiatek, making the interruption all the more significant in the broader narrative of their rivalry.
Monday’s result flips the dynamic once again. Zheng now knows how to win against Swiatek in high-stakes conditions, and the psychological edge that had belonged to the Polish star for years has been meaningfully eroded.
What Comes Next
In the quarterfinals, Zheng will face either two-time U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka or No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina, depending on the outcome of their upcoming clash. Either matchup represents a step up in pedigree and will test whether the resilience displayed over the past two days can sustain itself against elite-level opposition.
Elsewhere in the Draw
French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, the No. 5 seed, also advanced on Monday. The Russian teenager recovered from a first-set loss to defeat No. 24 Anastasia Potapova 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Andreeva’s next opponent will be determined by the Monday-night contest between No. 4 Coco Gauff and No. 14 Iva Jovic, two Americans scheduled to open the night session.
For Zheng, the immediate question is no longer whether she belongs in this tournament. She has answered that with two consecutive five-game comebacks and a quarterfinal berth. The question now is how far the momentum carries her against the deepest talent remaining in the bracket.
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