NEW YORK (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen extended her return to the U.S. Open with a spectacular and stunning rally, winning the final seven games to eliminate No. 22 Madison Keys 1-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 on Saturday.
Amanda Anisimova, like Keys a past runner-up at the U.S. Open, also was knocked out when the No. 10 seed lost to No. 24 Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 7-5.
Keys won a three-set match in the previous round in a match tiebreaker when she fought off five match points. Two days later came a collapse that was as out-of-nowhere as that comeback.
The 2017 runner-up rebounded after losing the second-set tiebreaker to charge out to 5-0 lead. Zheng held but Keys had a match point while serving at 5-1, and once she couldn’t convert that, the turnaround was on, with Keys at one point banging her racket into her head repeatedly and pulling off her visor in disgust.
“I’m just telling myself keep holding every single point, never give up, stay there and somehow little by little it just happened,” Zheng said.
She won the gold medal for China at the 2024 Olympics after reaching the Australian Open final that year, and has been ranked as high as No. 4. But after elbow surgery, she is down to No. 121 and had to come through qualifying just to make the main draw.
“The hard work pays off,” Zheng said.
Anisimova missed repeated chances by converting just 3 of 16 break-point chances (19%). Potapova, a 25-year-old who was born in Russia but now represents Austria, went 6 for 8 and matched her best showing in a Grand Slam tournament by reaching the fourth round.
Anisimova went to the final at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2025, falling to Aryna Sabalenka in Flushing Meadows. But after reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the American was eliminated in the third round of the last three majors this year.
