Qualifier Zheng Stuns Swiatek in Epic Comeback to Reach US Open QF

From 0-5 to 7-5: a comeback nobody saw coming

When Qinwen Zheng found herself trailing 0-5 in the opening set against eighth seed Iga Swiatek on Monday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, few expected a fightback was coming. Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam champion and the most decorated player of her generation, had given no sign of weakness throughout the fortnight. What followed over the next seventy-five minutes rewrote the story of the US Open.

Zheng reeled off seven straight games to take the first set 7-5, saving three set points along the way and winning 12 of the final 15 points. In the second set she did not relent, breaking Swiatek twice to close out a 7-5, 6-3 victory and book her place in the quarterfinals. It was, remarkably, the second consecutive match in which Zheng had come back from 5-0 down to win a set — a streak of composure under pressure that few players in the world can sustain across multiple rounds of a Grand Slam.

The first qualifier to beat Swiatek at any major

Before Monday, Iga Swiatek had never lost to a qualifier or lucky loser at any Grand Slam in her career. Zheng, who had to win three qualifying matches simply to earn a place in the main draw, changed that record in emphatic style. Her head-to-head against the Polish player now stands at 2-7, and each of those two victories has been extraordinary. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Zheng erased a 4-0 second-set deficit in a semifinal that ended Swiatek's 25-match winning streak on Roland Garros clay and delivered China its gold medal. Now this: from 0-5 to a quarterfinal berth at Flushing Meadows.

Zheng is the first qualifier to reach the US Open women's quarterfinals since Emma Raducanu in 2021. That year, Raducanu went on to win the title without dropping a single set across ten matches. Nobody is drawing a direct parallel, but the trajectory of Zheng's week — qualifying rounds, six consecutive main-draw wins, elimination of the eighth seed — has given this tournament its defining narrative.

Rybakina looms as the next challenge

Zheng's quarterfinal opponent will be Elena Rybakina, the reigning Wimbledon champion, who dismantled Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-4 in just 66 minutes on Monday. Rybakina was in clinical form, winning 85 per cent of points behind her first serve and facing no moment of real danger in the second set. Her flat, heavy ball-striking and powerful serve present an entirely different challenge to the one Zheng overcame against Swiatek.

WTAWuhan loses 11 players, including Rybakina and defending champion Gauff

Elsewhere in the women's draw, Mirra Andreeva came through a difficult three-set encounter with Anastasia Potapova, winning 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Potapova required heavy strapping on her knee midway through the third set after twisting it chasing a forehand, but bravely finished the match. Andreeva will face Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

The women's quarterfinal field in full

The women's draw is now complete. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, bidding for a third consecutive US Open title, faces Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova today. An all-American quarterfinal between Jessica Pegula and Emma Navarro runs on the same schedule. Rybakina versus Zheng and Andreeva versus Gauff are set for Wednesday.

On the day Sabalenka begins her pursuit of a historic three-peat, the only name dominating the conversation at Flushing Meadows belongs to a player who came through qualifying, trailed 0-5, and simply refused to accept defeat — twice in three days.