Zheng erases 5-0 first-set deficit to stun Swiatek 7-5, 6-3; reaches US Open quarterfinals

Zheng Qinwen defeated Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-3 in the US Open fourth round on Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, advancing to the quarterfinals after erasing a 5-0 first-set deficit. Per The Guardian and BBC Sport, Zheng won 13 of the next 16 games after falling 0-5 down.

The victory marks an extraordinary pattern. Two days earlier on Friday, Zheng defeated Madison Keys after trailing 5-0 in the final set, winning seven consecutive games. Per The Guardian, a player winning seven games in a row from 0-5 down in consecutive sets against two different opponents is almost unheard of at the highest level; doing so against two Grand Slam title winners has never happened before.

Zheng is 23, from China, and the reigning Olympic champion. Per BBC Sport, she is a former world number four who underwent elbow surgery in July 2025. She dropped outside the world's top 100 earlier in 2026 while struggling to regain form following that surgery. Coming into the US Open, her 2026 record stood at 11-13, per The Guardian.

For this tournament, Zheng had to compete in the qualifying draw. Per BBC Sport, she has now won seven matches in a row at the US Open, including three qualifying rounds. This run will put her back to the brink of the top 50 in the rankings.

Zheng reached the 2024 Australian Open final and a career-high ranking of number 4 last year, per The Guardian. She fell as low as number 160 in the rankings in June 2026.

On her latest comeback, Zheng said per The Guardian, "In one moment, I even forgot the score in the first set at 4-5. That shows how I am focused." She added, "To come back 0-5 again is not lucky, that's what I can say."

Swiatek is 25, a six-time Grand Slam title winner, per BBC Sport. She won her first title of the year at the Canadian Open in Toronto before the US Open and reached the semifinal in Cincinnati, per The Guardian. Per BBC Sport, Swiatek had progressed through to the fourth round without dropping a set before facing Zheng. However, per The Guardian, Swiatek attributed her loss to her own performance rather than Zheng's dominance; she said, "I just started to miss too much" and acknowledged that nothing worked once she began making errors. Per The Guardian, Swiatek said she lost control in the first set and her game unraveled in a stream of erratic unforced errors. Per BBC Sport, Swiatek has won a title in 2026 (Toronto) and reached the Cincinnati semifinals, so the loss may not reflect a broader pattern of fragility against Zheng.

Zheng had defeated Swiatek just once in their eight previous meetings, in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics, per The Guardian.

In the second set against Swiatek, per BBC Sport, Zheng secured a crucial break in the seventh game with a powerful backhand return winner and broke again two games later to complete the victory.

Zheng's next opponent is Elena Rybakina, the second seed. Per The Guardian, Rybakina defeated Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-4 in her fourth-round match. Osaka is a two-time US Open champion but has been struggling with achilles pain, per The Guardian. Rybakina moved to within one win of becoming world number 1 for the first time with her victory over Osaka, per The Guardian. In the 66-minute match at Louis Armstrong Stadium, per The Guardian, Rybakina fired down 29 winners and 17 unforced errors while facing one unconverted break point.

Other quarterfinal results per The Guardian: Mirra Andreeva, the fifth seed and French Open champion, defeated Anastasia Potapova 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Alexander Blockx, the 28th seed, reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time by defeating 24th seed Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.