Qualifier Qinwen Zheng produced another seven-game surge on Arthur Ashe Stadium, rallying from 0-5 in the opening set to beat eighth seed Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-3 and reach the last eight at Flushing Meadows.
The 23-year-old Olympic champion needed one hour and 56 minutes to finish a rematch of their 2024 Paris Olympic semifinal. Swiatek, the 2022 US Open champion and a six-time major winner, is out before the quarterfinals in New York for a fourth straight year.
Iga Swiatek races to 5-0, then the collapse begins
Qinwen Zheng won the toss and chose to receive. For 20 minutes it looked like a mismatch. Iga Swiatek held serve, broke, and raced to 5-0 as Zheng sprayed forehands and dropped serve with a double fault.
Then the match flipped. Zheng broke back, held, and kept coming. Swiatek leaked two more double faults in the turnaround. Seven games later the set belonged to the qualifier, 7-5, the same seven-game burst she used two days earlier to come from 0-5 down against Madison Keys.
It was not luck stacked on luck. Zheng’s first-serve accuracy climbed, her forehand started to land heavy, and Swiatek’s intensity dropped once the lead vanished.
Qinwen Zheng takes over the second set
The second set never settled for the eighth seed. Iga Swiatek called for the physio with a thigh issue and took a medical timeout, then spent long stretches on the back foot. Qinwen Zheng held her serve more cleanly and kept pinning Swiatek behind the baseline.
Another break arrived. Zheng closed it 6-3. Ranked No. 121 after elbow surgery last year, the former world No. 4 is into her third US Open quarterfinal after runs in 2023 and 2024.
What comes next
Qinwen Zheng will face the winner of Naomi Osaka against second seed Elena Rybakina for a place in the semifinals. A deep run for Rybakina would also put the world No. 1 ranking in play.
For Iga Swiatek, another New York exit before the last eight ends a summer that had started to turn after her Canadian Open title. She had spoken after beating Marie Bouzkova about treating big points like any other point. On Monday she never got that far. Zheng simply refused to leave.