Zheng Beats Swiatek to Reach US Open QF

Zheng Qinwen beat Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-3 at the US Open after trailing 0-5 in the first set, per the WTA. It is her third trip to the Flushing Meadows quarterfinals, and she is the first qualifier to reach the women's singles last eight here since Emma Raducanu in 2021.

The comeback script was already familiar. Zheng dug out of 0-5 in the decider against Madison Keys on Saturday. On Monday she did it again in the opener against the No. 8 seed, then closed the second set 6-3 to finish in just under two hours. Next up is Elena Rybakina.

Seven straight games flipped the first set

Swiatek won eight of the first nine points and held for 5-0. Zheng's hold for 5-1 restarted the match. She won seven games in a row, saving a third set point at 5-4, leveling at 5-all with a forehand winner, then breaking when Swiatek double-faulted on break point. A love hold sealed 7-5.

Zheng improved to 2-7 against Swiatek on tour. The other win came on the biggest stage too: Olympic gold in Paris in 2024. She became the first qualifier or lucky loser to beat Swiatek at a Grand Slam. Swiatek had been 15-0 in those matches before Monday night in New York.

After the ranking drop that followed injury, Zheng said the doubt was hard to live with for a former top-10 Olympic champion used to the biggest stadiums. Monday's scoreboard was the answer she kept working toward. Twenty winners overall, including nine in the first set, and a second set where she broke for 4-3 with a backhand return winner down the line before closing through three saved match points from Swiatek.

Swiatek said afterward she did not have good timing and could not find space to play safer once Zheng's pace locked in. That is the trap of a 5-0 lead that turns into a 5-7 loss: the scoreboard still looks fine until it does not.

Rybakina next, American QF noise around her

Rybakina leads the head-to-head 4-1 and won both 2026 meetings in Doha and Madrid. Elsewhere in the women's draw, Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro already set an all-American quarterfinal, and Aryna Sabalenka advanced toward a Noskova QF. Zheng's path is different: qualifier to Swiatek scalp to a No. 2 seed with No. 1 on the line for her opponent.

Straight sets. Two 0-5 escapes in three days. A quarterfinal that Flushing has not handed a qualifier since Raducanu's title run. Zheng earned the stage again. Rybakina is the next exam, and the qualifier story only gets louder if she keeps winning.