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Zheng Qinwen came from 5-0 down in the opening set to beat Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-3 and reach the US Open quarter-finals. Mirra Andreeva also advanced, recovering from a set down to defeat Anastasia Potapova.
At this US Open, do not lead 5-0 against Zheng Qinwen. In football a 2-0 lead can be dangerous, and in tennis a 5-0 lead against the Chinese qualifier has become even more so.
Zheng reached the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-3 win over former US Open champion Iga Swiatek after another escape from 5-0 down. Swiatek, the Polish eighth seed and six-time grand slam champion, won the first five games of the fourth-round match. Zheng then won seven consecutive games to take the opening set 7-5. She kept control in the second set and closed out 6-3 for one of the best wins of her career.
Two days earlier, Zheng had been 5-0 and match point down in the deciding set against American Madison Keys, the former Australian Open champion. She won seven straight games to win that match. She then repeated that recovery in the very next match against Swiatek. Zheng said, 'In one moment, I even forgot the score in the first set at 4-5.
That shows how I am focused. I guess, to come back from 0-5 again is not lucky, that's what I can say.
' Such back-to-back escapes are almost unheard of at the highest level. A player winning seven consecutive games from 0-5 down in consecutive sets against two different opponents is extremely rare. Doing so against two grand slam champions has never happened before. Swiatek, who had been one of the favourites after winning the Canadian Open for her first title of the year, seemed close to rediscovering the confidence that has made her the best player of her generation.
Once Zheng took the first set, however, Swiatek's game unravelled in a stream of erratic unforced errors. Swiatek did not blame the loss on mentality. She said, 'I wouldn't say it had anything to do with mentality. It was more that I started making mistakes from easy balls and Qinwen stopped doing mistakes.
' Swiatek has previously cited anxiety and stress in explaining her recent troubles, but this time she said she simply could not feel the ball well enough. For Zheng, the win is potentially transformative. She won Olympic gold in Paris, reached the Australian Open final in 2024, and rose to a career-high ranking of No 4 last year.
The 23-year-old had beaten Swiatek only once in eight previous meetings, and that win came in the semi-finals of the 2024 Olympics at Roland Garros. Zheng's Olympic gold made her one of the most famous athletes in China. She then underwent elbow surgery and tumbled down the rankings, falling as low as No 160 in June. She arrived in New York with a 2026 match record of 11-13 after a difficult year.
At this tournament Zheng had to park her ego and enter the qualifying draw, and she has now won seven matches in New York. That makes her the first qualifier to reach the US Open quarter-finals since Emma Raducanu won the title in 2021. The run has turned a difficult period into a chance to compete for another major.
Meanwhile, the fifth seed and French Open champion Mirra Andreeva reached the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows for the first time. Andreeva came from a set down to beat fellow Russian Anastasia Potapova 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. Potapova was in tears as her stay in New York came to an end. The 25-year-old Russian won the first set but badly twisted her knee while chasing a forehand when she was 5-3 down in the third.
She had the knee heavily strapped and bravely finished the match, but she did not win another point. Zheng's comeback against Swiatek and Andreeva's first US Open quarter-final are the latest signs of a shifting women's draw. Both young players have already delivered some of the most memorable moments of this year's tournament. It will be fascinating to see how far they can go.
The42_ie 
IrishTimes:Zheng Qinwen erases another 5-0 deficit to stun Iga Swiatek and reach US Open quarter-finalsThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
US Open Zheng Qinwen Iga Swiatek Anastasia Potopova Mirra Andreeva Anastasia Potapova
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