US Open: China’s Zheng Qinwen through to quarter-finals after beating last year’s runner-up, Ons Jabeur
- Zheng storms to 6-2, 6-4 win in New York to move one step closer to joining elite group of Chinese players
- She will face soon-to-be world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in last eight at Flushing Meadows
Zheng Qinwen routed last year’s US Open runner-up Ons Jabeur 6-2, 6-4 to move into the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows for her best performance ever in a grand slam tournament.
Zheng, who is seeded No 23, becomes the first Chinese player to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament since Wang Qiang in 2019. She did it by overpowering the fifth-seeded Tunisian with an aggressive baseline game that produced 21 winners.
“I feel just super happy and excited to play in a big stadium and have a really good performance today,” the 20-year-old Zheng told the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd.
For Jabeur, who committed 33 unforced errors and has appeared ill at times during her US Open run, it was a disappointing finish after reaching the finals of three of the last five grand slam events, including twice at Wimbledon.
Zheng’s win mean three of last year’s four US Open singles finalists are gone, leaving only second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, a Belarusian who will take over the No 1 spot in the WTA rankings because of the fourth-round loss by No 1 seed Iga Swiatek.
Zheng will play Sabalenka, who beat Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-3. That will give Zheng the chance to play for more history – to equal the best runs ever by Chinese players at the US Open, semi-finals appearances by Peng Shuai in 2014 and Li Na in 2013.
Earlier, Carlos Alcaraz had little trouble beating unseeded Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals, the third time in as many appearances he’s reached at least that far at Flushing Meadows.
By advancing to the round of eight, the 20-year-old Spaniard became the youngest player to reach three US Open quarter-finals in the open era that dates to 1968 and the only player other than Andre Agassi to do so before turning 21.
Alcaraz next faces the winner of the night match on Ashe between sixth-seeded Jannik Sinner and No 12-seeded Alexander Zverev.
Eighth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia slugged his way past Jack Draper of Britain 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to his fourth US Open quarter-finals and the ninth grand slam quarter-finals of his career. He will await the winner of the match later between third-seeded Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, and 13th-seeded Alex de Minaur.
Earlier, Madison Keys overpowered fellow American Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-3 in little more than an hour to book her spot in the last eight.
Keys, the 2017 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, converted on 77 per cent of her first-serve points and used powerful ground strokes to keep rallies short – a little more than three strokes on average – to make quick work of her third-seeded opponent and close friend.
For Pegula, it marked yet another grand slam disappointment. She has advanced to the quarter-finals in each major tournament but has yet to reach the final four.
Keys’ quarter-finals opponent will be ninth-seeded Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, who came back to beat unseeded American Peyton Stearns 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 to keep her dream alive of a second straight grand slam title after winning Wimbledon.
“I actually didn’t expect it after Wimby, there was a lot of pressure,” Vondrousova said in her postmatch interview. “Let’s see what happens next.”
