Two matches in a row now, Zheng Qinwen has been 5-0 down and won.
On Monday it was Iga Swiatek she pulled it on. The night before it had been Madison Keys, from match point. The Chinese qualifier, back on tour after elbow surgery, put out the 2022 US Open champion 7-5, 6-3 inside Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach the quarterfinals.
Swiatek raced through the first five games. She held two set points at 5-1, and another at 5-3. She lost them all. Zheng reeled off seven consecutive games to steal the opening set and never surrendered the lead.
“I guess to come back 0-5 yesterday is not lucky, that’s all I can say,” Zheng told reporters, referring to the third-round survival act against Keys.
Read also: Two months without a club, what now?
She said the swing surprised her in the moment.
“I started the match not so well but I found my rhythm,” Zheng told Sky Sports. “I took it point by point.”
From No. 160 to the last eight
Zheng was the world No. 4 in 2025. Elbow surgery dropped her to No. 160 by June, and she had to come through qualifying to reach the main draw in New York. She is now the first qualifier into the US Open women’s quarterfinals since Emma Raducanu’s title run in 2021.
Against Keys in the third round she had trailed 1-6, 5-0 in the decider and saved a match point before winning 1-6, 7-6(3), 7-5. The next night she went 0-5 down again, this time to a six-time major champion, and produced the same seven-game run.
Swiatek’s hot streak stops on a dime
Swiatek arrived in New York on a 10-match hard-court winning streak after her title in Toronto. She was seeded eighth here and had just returned to the top 5 of the WTA rankings after that Toronto title. She took a medical timeout in the second set for treatment on her left thigh, but continued.
The 5-0 lead turned on Zheng’s willingness to keep swinging. According to Yahoo Sports, Zheng made just two unforced errors during the seven-game run that flipped the opening set, after a scrappy opening in which the errors had gone the other way.
The head-to-head now reads 2-6 in Swiatek’s favor. Zheng’s other win over the Pole came at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a run she finished by taking gold.
Osaka or Rybakina up next
In the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Zheng will play the winner of second seed Elena Rybakina against 13th seed Naomi Osaka. Osaka is a two-time champion at Flushing Meadows; Rybakina has been the closest chaser to the world No. 1 ranking through the summer.
Read also: 'He snapped, and rightly so': Scholes backs Rogers over Rice's off-the-ball trip
Zheng’s win-loss record in 2026 stood at 11-13 before the tournament. It now includes back-to-back matches in which she trailed 5-0 and did not lose.
Read also: Six Grand Slams at 22: Navratilova calls what Alcaraz has done 'crazy'
