Qinwen Zheng needed to dig deep Monday. After trailing 0-5 in the first set to Iga Swiatek, Zheng found the strength — again — to rally all the way back and pick up a massive, upset win over the No. 8 ranked player.
Zheng knocked off Swiatek in straight sets (7-5, 6-3) to advance to the quarterfinals at the US Open.
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Things looked extremely promising from Swiatek early. After five games, she led 5-0 and looked poised to make quick work of the much, much lower-ranked Zheng. But being down 5-0 in a set is apparently when Zheng plays her best tennis.
For the second-straight match — and in her second-straight set — Zheng somehow rallied from 5-0 to win the next seven games and actually stole the win from Swiatek.
Zheng pulled off the exact same comeback in her third set vs. Madison Keys on Saturday, rallying from down 0-5 to come back and win that set — and match — 7-5.
Zheng played sloppy tennis early, making a number of unforced errors in the first five games against Swiatek. In the fifth game, Zheng lost thanks to a double fault and two unforced errors.
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From there, she started rolling. Zheng was credited with just two unforced errors over the next seven games. Instead, it was Swiatek who suddenly couldn’t land her shots.
That set up a potential match-winning opportunity to Zheng in the second set. Despite having all the momentum on her side, Zheng dropped the first game of the second set to Swiatek, a sign the No. 8 ranked player wasn’t going down that easily. Zheng, however, quickly evened up the set at 1-1 in the next game.
Swiatek appeared to be mounting a comeback, taking the third game. But before the fourth game of the second set began, a trainer came out to take a look at Swiatek. It was initially unclear what was ailing her.
Swiatek continued with the match, but quickly lost the next game, increasing concern about a possible injury. But Swiatek took the next game, again evening the set.
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From that point, however, Zheng again found her stride, winning the next three games to go up 5-3 in the second set. With another win, she would punch her ticket to the next round.
Zheng got out to a fantastic start in the game, taking the first three points in the set. Swiatek battled back, but ultimately couldn’t hold Zheng off. Zheng took the set 6-3, winning the match in straight sets.
Coming into the match, Swiatek held a significant advantage. She held a 7-1 record vs. Zheng in their head-to-head matchups. Zheng’s only victory in those eight matches came at the Paris Olympics in 2024, when Zheng topped Swiatek in straight sets. Zheng rode that victory all the way to a gold medal at the event.
Despite that win, Zheng entered Monday’s match ranked 121st by the WTA. Swiatek came into the contest as the WTA’s No. 8.
This story will be updated.
