Zheng Qinwen Stages Miraculous Comeback Against Madison Keys To Storm Into US Open 2026 Fourth Round

Zheng Qinwen and Naomi Osaka stormed into the U.S. Open fourth round on Saturday with comeback wins. Their victories helped turn the women’s draw on its head and fed into a day of major shocks across the tournament.

Zheng, the Olympic gold medalist from China, pulled off the biggest escape of the day. She beat No. 22 Madison Keys 1-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 after winning the final seven games of the match. Hours later, 13th-seeded Osaka joined her in the fourth round by defeating Elise Mertens 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in a match that lasted two hours, 38 minutes.

Zheng Stuns Keys

Keys unravelled late.

The 2017 U.S. Open runner-up and 2025 Australian Open champion for her lone Grand Slam title looked in control even after dropping the second-set tiebreak. She surged to a 5-0 lead in the decider, held match point at 5-1 on serve, then lost her grip completely as Zheng swept the last seven games.

“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. “I don’t know. Tennis just feels really hard right now, so I feel like that kind of took over.”

Two days earlier, Keys had survived a previous-round thriller by saving five match points in a match tiebreak. This time, the swing went the other way. After failing to finish at 5-1, she banged her racket into her head repeatedly and yanked off her visor in disgust.

Zheng stayed in it.

“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.

Her run carries extra weight. Zheng won Olympic gold for China in 2024 after reaching that year’s Australian Open final, and she has been ranked as high as No. 4. But elbow surgery pushed her down to No. 121 and forced her through qualifying just to enter the main draw in New York.

“The hard work pays off,” Zheng said.

She now faces 2022 U.S. Open champion Iga Swiatek in the fourth round.

Keys later described how the match slipped away. “I think she started playing better; I started playing poorly,” Keys said. “Then I felt like I couldn’t play tennis anymore, and it just felt like it was a much bigger deal than just playing a tennis match all of a sudden.”

Also Read: US Open 2026: Serena And Venus Williams Crash Out From Opening Round Of Women's Doubles In Flushing Meadows

Osaka And Gauff

Osaka also had to dig deep.

Hours later, the 13th seed beat Mertens 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours and 38 minutes to return to the fourth round. After the last point, the two-time U.S. Open champion put her head on her racket as the result sank in.

“Honestly, I can’t believe I won this match,” Osaka said. “I’m literally shocked that I won this match.”

She trailed 4-2 in the third set before turning the match around. Osaka admitted she had struggled with her level and her emotions through a tough night on court.

“There was a certain point, I don’t know, I felt like I put my entire heart on the court and then I just kept trying every single point,” Osaka said. “I didn’t feel like I played amazing, and it was really getting me down. I was very negative on myself.”

Gauff moved on with less drama.

The 2023 U.S. Open champion beat Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 6-4 to book another place in the second week. Her next opponent will be either No. 17 Alex Eala of the Philippines or 14th-seeded American Iva Jovic.

“Honestly, I feel like I’m definitely used to getting to Week 2s now because I feel like I woke up today and I was like, ’Oh, we’re already in Round 3,'” Gauff said. “So, I think that’s a good sign, just feeling like I’m not feeling tired.”

Fritz And Anisimova

Osaka avoided the sort of exit Fritz suffered. He stormed through his first two rounds, losing only 11 games, and broke Cerundolo to open the third set. Cerundolo broke back at once and grew more comfortable in his first match in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I don’t know how I let that happen today,” Fritz said.

“I think fourth and fifth I played a really good tennis that I wasn’t finding that tennis in the previous sets and the previous rounds,” the Argentine said.

Anisimova, like Fritz and Keys a former U.S. Open runner-up, lost to No. 24 Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 7-5. She converted only three of 16 break points, or 19 per cent. Potapova, 25, was born in Russia but now represents Austria. She matched her best Grand Slam showing by reaching the fourth round.

Anisimova reached the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals in 2025, losing to Aryna Sabalenka in Flushing Meadows. After reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals, she has now gone out in the third round of the last three majors this year.

Potapova will next play No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva, the French Open champion.

Draw Outlook Continues

No. 5 Flavio Cobolli, the French Open runner-up, lost in four sets to No. 28 Alexander Blockx. That left the men's draw without six of the top 10 seeds.

Top-seeded man Alexander Zverev, who had to win five-setters in the first two rounds, faces No. 25 seed Alejandro Tabilo in the night session on Ashe.