Tennis
Qinwen Zheng produces another stunning comeback to oust Iga Swiatek
Comeback queen Qinwen Zheng pulled off another incredible escape act to knock former champion Iga Swiatek out of the US Open.
They say 2-0 is a dangerous lead in football, but if you are playing Zheng at tennis then 5-0 is the scoreline to beware.
The qualifier from China was 5-0 and match point down in the deciding set against American Madison Keys in the previous round, and somehow came back to win.
So when Polish eighth seed Swiatek wn the first five games of the opening set, Zheng did not panic.
She simply won the next seven, and then continued to overpower shellshocked Swiatek in the second set to pull off another astonishing win, 7-5 6-3.
“Wow!” said the 23-year-old. “Honestly, I started the match not so well but I found my rhythm.
“I just focused point by point and started to find my game. I even forgot the score in the first set. I guess to come back from 5-0 again is not lucky.”
Zheng, an Olympic gold medal winner and former Australian Open finalist, had to come through qualifying just to make the main draw at Flushing Meadows after slipping down the rankings following elbow surgery.
She is now the first qualifier to reach the quarter-finals since a certain Emma Raducanu won the tournament in 2021.
Zheng will face Elena Rybakina, who is just one win away from becoming world number one.
The former Wimbledon champion brushed aside a below-par Naomi Osaka 6-1 6-4 in just over an hour.
Rybakina needs to reach the semi-finals in order to overtake Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the rankings.
“Of course I want that, i’s one of my goals,” said the 27-year-old. “I’ll try to approach it the same way and try my best and hopefully it will go my way.”
Anastasia Potopova was in floods of tears as her stay in New York came to an end.
The 25-year-old Austrian won the first set against fifth seed Mirra Andreeva, but, at 5-3 down in the third she badly twisted her knee chasing a forehand down.
Potopova had the knee heavily strapped up and bravely finished the match,
but did not win another point as French Open champion Andreeva triumphed 5-7 6-4 6-3.
“Anastasia is a good friend, and seeing what a battle we have and then seeing her fall is not easy,” said Russian teenager Andreeva.
“It’s not the way you want to finish the match. I just told her she is playing amazing and I’m sure she’ll come back even stronger, she’s a warrior.”
