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09/05/26 03:57:00
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09/05 15:56 CDT Zheng Qinwen stuns Madison Keys with a spectacular rally at the
US Open. Fritz, Anisimova also lose
Zheng Qinwen stuns Madison Keys with a spectacular rally at the US Open. Fritz,
Anisimova also lose
By BRIAN MAHONEY
AP Sports Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- Zheng Qinwen was on her back with her arms in the air,
celebrating a U.S. Open victory maybe only she believed was possible.
Madison Keys fought off tears as she tried to explain how Zheng, way down and
all but out, somehow got the win.
Zheng, the Olympic gold medalist, extended her return to the U.S. Open on
Saturday with a spectacular and stunning rally, winning the final seven games
to eliminate No. 22 Keys 1-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
"I feel like I obviously got off to a really good lead, and then I just got
really --- I mean, got really scared, like I couldn't swing," Keys said. "I
don't know. Tennis just feels really hard right now, so I feel like that kind
of took over."
No. 9 Taylor Fritz also went out in a shocker, blowing a two-set lead and
falling to No. 24 Francisco Cerundolo 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.
"I don't know how I let that happen today," Fritz said.
Amanda Anisimova, like Fritz and Keys a past runner-up at the U.S. Open, also
was knocked out when the No. 10 seed lost to No. 24 Anastasia Potapova 6-2,
7-5. No. 5 Flavio Cobolli, the French Open runner-up, lost in four sets to No.
28 Alexander Blockx to leave the men's draw without six of the top 10 seeds.
Keys won a three-set match in the previous round in a match tiebreaker when she
fought off five match points. Two days later came a collapse that was as
out-of-nowhere as that comeback.
The 2017 runner-up rebounded after losing the second-set tiebreaker to charge
out to 5-0 lead. Zheng held but Keys had a match point while serving at 5-1,
and once she couldn't convert that, the turnaround was on, with Keys at one
point banging her racket into her head repeatedly and pulling off her visor in
disgust.
"I'm just telling myself keep holding every single point, never give up, stay
there and somehow little by little it just happened," Zheng said.
She won the gold medal for China at the 2024 Olympics after reaching the
Australian Open final that year, and has been ranked as high as No. 4. But
after elbow surgery, she is down to No. 121 and had to go through qualifying
just to make the main draw.
"The hard work pays off," said Zheng, who will play 2022 U.S. Open champion Iga
Swiatek next.
Zheng's victory set up the potential for a big day for top Asian women at the
U.S. Open. Naomi Osaka, the two-time champion from Japan, was in action against
No. 23 Elise Mertens on Saturday night, while No. 17 Alex Eala from the
Philippines faced 14th-seeded American Iva Jovic in a matchup of promising
young players.
Coco Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, was playing a third-round match
against Cristina Bucsa, with the winner advancing to face the Eala-Jovic winner
in the round of 16.
Keys, who won the 2025 Australian Open for her lone Grand Slam title, said she
was going to have to make some unspecified changes she has been putting off.
"I think she started playing better; I started playing poorly," Keys said.
"Then I felt like I couldn't play tennis anymore, and it just felt like it was
a much bigger deal than just playing a tennis match all of a sudden."
Fritz stormed through his first two rounds, losing a total of 11 games, and
there was no hint of trouble when he broke Cerundolo to open the third set. But
Cerundolo broke right back and started to feel more comfortable in his first
time playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
"I think fourth and fifth I played a really good tennis that I wasn't finding
that tennis in the previous sets and the previous rounds," the Argentine said.
Anisimova missed repeated chances by converting just 3 of 16 break-point
chances (19%). Potapova, a 25-year-old who was born in Russia but now
represents Austria, went 6 for 8 and matched her best showing in a Grand Slam
tournament by reaching the fourth round.
Anisimova made the final at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2025, falling
to Aryna Sabalenka in Flushing Meadows. But after reaching the quarterfinals of
the Australian Open, the American was eliminated in the third round of the last
three majors this year.
Potapova will play No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva, the French Open champion.
Top-seeded man Alexander Zverev, who had to win five-setters in the first two
rounds, faced No. 25 seed Alejandro Tabilo in a night match.
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See AP's full tennis coverage here
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