Trailing 5-0 in the third set against No. 22 seed Madison Keys, Qinwen Zheng staged a thrilling comeback by winning the next seven games to secure a 1-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory on Saturday, Sept. 5 and reach the fourth round of the US Open in New York.
Zheng, the 2024 Olympic gold medalist from China, held serve while trailing 5-0, then saved a match point with Keys serving at 5-1. Zheng broke the 2017 U.S. Open runner-up three times during her seven-game run before serving out the improbable victory in two hours, 28 minutes.
"I'm just telling myself (to) keep holding every single point, never give up, stay there and somehow, little by little, it just happened," Zheng said in her on-court interview.
In 2024, when she won gold at the Olympics after advancing to the Australian Open final, Zheng was ranked as high as No. 4. However, following right elbow surgery, she is at No. 121 and had to make it through qualifying just to reach the main draw at the U.S. Open.
"After the surgery, it was not easy," Zheng said. "It felt like I lost a bit of my energy on the tennis court. I've been through really tough (moments) these last three, four, five months.

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