Zheng Qinwen was ecstatic to make it through the three qualifying rounds into the US Open main draw, and now her fairytale run just got a wild new chapter as she won SEVEN consecutive games and saved a match point to beat 2017 runner-up and 2025 Australian Open champion Madison Keys 1-6 7-6(3) 7-5 in the third round.
Zheng played only one tournament between July 2025 and February 2026 due to elbow surgery and recovery. Since returning, the Chinese had been unable to win more than two matches in a row and had fallen as low as No. 160 in the rankings before entering the US Open at No. 121.
Now at Flushing Meadows, she has won six straight matches, with the last four being three-setters. Against Keys, the Olympic gold medalist got breadsticked in the opening set, then won the second set in a tiebreak before coming back from 5-0 down in the third set, saving a match point at 5-1 40-30.
It’s an absolutely INSANE comeback! The match lasted 2 hours and 29 minutes.
“After the surgery it was not easy. It felt like I lost a bit of my energy on the tennis court,” Zheng said in her on-court interview. “I’ve been through really tough (moments) these last three, four, five months.
“But we’ve been working really hard… and yeah, the hard work finally paid off a bit. I want to say thanks to my team first for bringing me here. Let’s keep going.”
With this win, Zheng became the first qualifier to reach the US Open women’s singles fourth round since Emma Raducanu in 2021. And we all remember what happened next for Raducanu.
