Down 5-0 in the first set against a former French Open champion, on the biggest stage in tennis, most players are already thinking about the handshake at the net. Qinwen Zheng was thinking about the next point.
On Monday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, the Chinese qualifier did what she'd already done two days earlier against a top-25 opponent: she erased a five-game deficit and walked off a US Open court with the win, this time at the expense of No. 8 seed Iga Swiatek, 7-5, 6-3.
The Same Trick, Twice in Three Days
It was Zheng's second escape act of the tournament. Two days before facing Swiatek, she had trailed No. 22 Madison Keys by the same 0-5 margin in the third set of their fourth-round match, only to win the final seven games to advance, 1-6, 7-6(3), 7-5. Against Swiatek, the pattern repeated almost exactly — a lost first-set opening turned into a 7-5 set win, followed by a more comfortable 6-3 to close it out.
Swiatek, a former world No. 1 and multiple Grand Slam champion, has now been eliminated by a player ranked well outside her caliber on paper — a result that stunned the Ashe crowd and instantly became one of the tournament's signature upsets.
A Feat Not Seen Since Raducanu
With the win, Zheng became the first qualifier to reach the US Open quarterfinals since Emma Raducanu's fairy-tale run to the title in 2021 — a comparison that will follow her into the rest of the tournament whether she wants it or not.
Zheng, an Olympic gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Games, has built a reputation for physical, high-intensity tennis; Monday's comeback added a new chapter to that identity — a player who treats a 5-0 deficit less like a crisis and more like a starting position.
She now moves on to the quarterfinals, still carrying the qualifier tag that makes her run through the draw all the more improbable.
IF Daily could not confirm a rights-cleared video specifically of Monday's Zheng-Swiatek match at publication time; the photo above is a file image of Zheng from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
