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Qinwen Zheng defeated six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Świątek 7-5, 6-3 at the US Open.
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Świątek raced into a 5-0 lead in the opening set before Zheng produced a remarkable turnaround.
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Zheng won seven consecutive games to take the first set and never looked back.
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The Chinese star has reached the US Open quarter-finals for the third time.
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Zheng also survived a match point against Madison Keys earlier in the tournament.
September 07, (THEWILL) — Qinwen Zheng produced another remarkable comeback at the 2026 US Open, recovering from a five-game deficit to defeat six-time Major winner Iga Świątek and book her place in the quarter-finals.
Zheng eventually secured a 7-5, 6-3 victory over the former US Open champion on Arthur Ashe Stadium, completing one of the biggest wins of her tournament and extending an extraordinary run in New York.
The Chinese player appeared to be heading towards a difficult afternoon when Świątek raced into a 5-0 lead in the opening set.
But rather than allowing the former champion to take control, Zheng gradually turned the contest around.
She won seven games in succession to overturn the deficit, taking the first set 7-5 and putting Świątek under immediate pressure.
The momentum remained firmly with Zheng in the second set.
Świątek struggled to regain the authority she had shown at the start of the match, while Zheng continued to attack with confidence.
The 23-year-old eventually closed out the second set 6-3 to complete the straight-sets victory.
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The self-belief? Extraordinary.
After starting the match 0-5 down in 20 minutes, Zheng Qinwen takes out Swiatek 7-5, 6-3! pic.twitter.com/WHUGzShzrV
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 7, 2026
The result sends Zheng into the US Open quarter-finals for the third time in her career.
It also continues an extraordinary stretch of tennis for the former world No 4, who had already produced a remarkable escape earlier in the tournament.
Two days before facing Świątek, Zheng found herself trailing Madison Keys 5-0 in the deciding set and facing match point. She survived that situation before eventually turning the match around.
Against Świątek, she was once again forced to fight from a seemingly hopeless position.
This time, however, the deficit came much earlier in the match, with Zheng responding to the 5-0 scoreline by taking control of the opening set and then carrying that momentum through the rest of the contest.
For Świątek, the defeat brought a disappointing end to her campaign.
The Polish star, who won the US Open in 2022, was unable to recover once Zheng had seized control and left the court in tears following the loss.
Zheng’s victory is particularly significant given the circumstances of her run to the last eight.
She entered the tournament as a qualifier after previously being sidelined by a long-term elbow injury.
Her progress now makes her the first qualifier to reach the US Open women’s singles quarter-finals since Emma Raducanu won the tournament in 2021.
The latest victory also underlines Zheng’s growing reputation as one of the most dangerous players when matches begin to slip away from her.
Having already escaped a match point against Keys, she now overturned a 5-0 deficit against one of the most decorated players in women’s tennis.
Zheng will now turn her attention to the quarter-finals, where she is set to face the winner of the meeting between Naomi Osaka and Elena Rybakina.
After surviving two extraordinary challenges in successive rounds, the Chinese star will enter the last eight with considerable momentum and confidence.
What began as another difficult afternoon for Zheng has instead developed into one of the most impressive runs of the 2026 US Open.
And after knocking out a six-time Major winner, she is now just three victories away from potentially claiming her first Grand Slam title.
Olumide Atiba is a sports journalist with THEWILL, known for his keen news sense and compelling storytelling. He has built a reputation for turning leads into clear, well-structured reports that resonate with readers, with a strong focus on football coverage
