Zheng Qinwen is back in the US Open quarterfinals, and she got there the hard way: through qualifying, through a comeback, and through two of the biggest names left in the draw. The 23-year-old was set to meet Elena Rybakina on Wednesday after outlasting Madison Keys in a deciding set on Saturday, a result that sent her further into a tournament run few would have predicted after the year she has had.
The search for Zheng is so intense now because this is not just a good week in NEW YORK. It is a reminder of how high her ceiling has been since she played the Australian Open final in 2024 and then won Olympic gold in Paris later that summer. She was as high as No. 4 in the rankings in June 2025, but a chronic right elbow injury and surgery in July 2025 interrupted that rise and left her trying to rebuild both her game and her body at the same time.
What has made this run stand out is not only the result, but the route. Zheng came through qualifying, then climbed out of a first-set hole against Iga Świątek in the round of 16 before turning back Keys from 5-0 down in the deciding set. After that match, she said, “Wow. What can I say? Wow,” and added that coming back from 0-5 was not luck. Those are the kind of wins that only happen when a player keeps finding answers under pressure.
There is still a sharp edge to the story. Zheng ended her French Open this year in tears after a first-round loss and was bounced in Wimbledon’s first round, then had to deal with being sidelined again after surgery even after believing she had recovered enough to return. She has been described as China’s biggest tennis star since Li Na, but this ascent has not been linear; it has been stop-start, painful and, at times, far from certain.
That is what gives Wednesday’s quarterfinal against Rybakina its weight. Zheng is not just chasing another win in NEW YORK. She is trying to prove that the body holding her back in July is no longer the story, and that the player who won in Paris and fought her way back from 0-5 can keep pushing deep enough for the rankings and the doubts to start moving in the same direction again.
