By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK, Sept 5 (Reuters) – China’s Zheng Qinwen recovered from 5-0 down in the deciding set to beat American Madison Keys 1-6 7-6(3) 7-5 in the U.S. Open third round on Saturday as she battles back from a chronic right elbow injury that has stunted her career.
The Olympic champion was forced to go through qualifying only two years after reaching the quarter-finals for the second time after a career slump that saw her undergo surgery last year and she collapsed on the court with joy after the win.
The 22nd-seeded Keys pulled off an escape act worthy of Houdini in the second round, saving five match points against Anna Bondar, but did not have the magic this time as she let the contest slip through her fingers in the final moments.
Zheng next faces six-times major winner Iga Swiatek in a rematch of their dramatic Paris Olympic semi-final showdown, where the Pole’s 25-match winning streak came to a tearful end.
“Finally one time a bit of luck is on my side,” said Zheng, who had not enjoyed more than two consecutive victories since the surgery until arriving in New York, where she is on a six-match winning streak.
“I’m so happy and I know in the last match she also did that comeback. It was a very dramatic match for me but we both showed up with very strong tennis.”
Zheng dropped serve with a double fault in the fourth game and Keys broke her to love in the opening set’s penultimate game as the American looked poised to roll through.
But Zheng flipped the script in the second set, fighting through the tiebreak before sealing it with a lethal strike from the baseline.
Keys had her foot on the gas in the third set but Zheng found the brakes, saving match point in the seventh game before getting the break with a forehand winner.
Keys’ nerves began to unravel from there as she piled up errors before handing over the contest on match point with a shot just out of bounds.
“When the crowd is supporting her I feel at the same time they’re supporting me because the more noise they made I felt like they were trying to wake me up,” said Zheng. “What I’m afraid of is when the crowd is calm and nothing happens.”
She is the first qualifier to reach the fourth round since Emma Raducanu in 2021 when the Briton won the title.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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