Zheng Qinwen has reached the quarter-finals of the US Open after a stunning comeback victory against former champion Iga Swiatek. This marks the second consecutive match where Zheng has won a set after trailing 5-0.
Zheng, who was the reigning Olympic champion and former world number four, dropped outside the top 100 earlier this year following elbow surgery in July 2025. The 23-year-old Chinese player had faced a similar deficit in her third-round match on Saturday against Madison Keys, where she came back from 5-0 down in the deciding set to win seven successive games and advance.
Against Swiatek, Zheng found herself 5-0 down in the opening set on Arthur Ashe Stadium. However, she rallied to win 13 of the next 16 games, ultimately securing a 7-5, 6-3 victory. Her quarter-final opponent will be either Naomi Osaka or Elena Rybakina.
The second set remained on serve until the seventh game, when Zheng hit a powerful backhand return winner to break Swiatek's serve. She secured another crucial break two games later to seal the match.
This latest win is Zheng's seventh in a row in New York, having successfully navigated three rounds of qualifying. The streak of victories is expected to return her to the brink of the top 50 in the world rankings.
"The more matches I play, the more rhythm I have on court," Zheng said after the match. "People have asked me if I'm tired and when I arrived I was not tired at all. I felt really pumped for my match, trying to reach better levels here and enjoy this fantastic stadium."
In another match, French Open winner Mirra Andreeva also advanced to the last eight in New York for the first time in her career. She recovered from losing the first set to Austria's Anastasia Potapova.