Zheng Qinwen stuns Madison Keys with a spectacular rally at the US Open. Fritz, Anisimova also lose

NEW YORK (AP) — Zheng Qinwen was on her back with her arms in the air, celebrating a U.S. Open victory maybe only she believed was possible.Madison Keys fought off tears as she tried to explain how Zheng, way down and all but out, somehow got the win.Zheng, the Olympic gold medalist, extended her return to the U.S. Open on Saturday with a spectacular and stunning rally, winning the final seven games to eliminate No.

22 Keys 1-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5.“I feel like I obviously got off to a really good lead, and then I just got really — I mean, got really scared, like I couldn’t swing,” Keys said. Tennis just feels really hard right now, so I feel like that kind of took over.”No. 9 Taylor Fritz also went out in a shocker, blowing a two-set lead and falling to No.

24 Francisco Cerundolo 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.“I don’t know how I let that happen today,” Fritz said.Amanda Anisimova, like Fritz and Keys a past runner-up at the U.S. Open, also was knocked out when the No. 5 Flavio Cobolli, the French Open runner-up, lost in four sets to No.

28 Alexander Blockx to leave the men's draw without six of the top 10 seeds.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.

But after elbow surgery, she is down to No. 121 and had to go through qualifying just to make the main draw.“The hard work pays off,” said Zheng, who will play 2022 U.S. Open champion Iga Swiatek next.Zheng's victory set up the potential for a big day for top Asian women at the U.S.

Naomi Osaka, the two-time champion from Japan, was in action against No. 23 Elise Mertens on Saturday night, while No. NEW YORK (AP) — Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen extended her return to the U.S.