Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen pulled off one of those comeback wins you tell your grandkids about at the US Open, storming back from a massive deficit to stun Madison Keys and keep her unlikely run alive. The Paris Olympics gold medallist from China clawed her way back, winning the last seven games of the match to triumph 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 on Saturday, defying a vocal pro-Keys crowd and proving she is absolutely headed back to her best form.
Down 0-5 in the Third? No Problem for Zheng.
Seriously, this match was wild. Zheng was down big, like *really* big, in the third set, facing a crushing 0-5 deficit. It must have felt like the whole tournament was slipping away right then. But what did she do? She dug deep. She saved a match point at 5-1 and, boom, she was off and running. You gotta love that fire! As she said, when she was down 0-5, the first thing she thought was, “Please, I don’t want to be beaten 6-0.” That fight is just incredible. Then, she says, “I felt I have a lot of energy. I can just keep pushing, keep fighting.” And that’s exactly what she did, reeling off seven straight games. Keys, meanwhile, admitted she “got really scared, like I couldn’t swing … I felt like I couldn’t play tennis anymore.” Zheng noticed it, too, saying she saw “maybe doubt” and Keys started to “make a lot of mistakes.” That’s when Zheng knew she had to “keep fighting, don’t give up.”
From Qualifier to Contender: An Emotional Journey
This comeback isn’t just about one match, it’s about Zheng’s whole journey back to form. The former world number four’s ranking had dropped so far after elbow surgery last year that she had to battle through qualifying just to get into the main draw! Talk about earning your spot. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster for the 23-year-old in New York, who felt she “forgot how to compete” during her enforced absence. But now, that competitive fire is absolutely blazing again. She even cried after winning her third qualie match, saying, “I have a lot of emotions when I’m playing the qualie matches.” She knew the main draw was “just the beginning,” and she’s proving it big time. “Finally, one time the luck is on my side because all these three, four months I been suffering a lot,” she added. You just know this win means everything to her.
What a ride for Zheng Qinwen, heading straight into the US Open round of 16. This win is a massive reminder, as Zheng herself put it, that “tennis sometimes feels like rollercoaster.” She learned that “in a tennis match you always have to be there. It doesn’t matter if you are winning or losing… you just need to concentrate every single point as long as you can.” You better believe everyone’s concentrating on her next move now. Let’s see what else she has in store for us!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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