‘The comeback of the century’: Zheng Qinwen stuns Iga Świątek to storm into the US Open 2026 quarterfinals

Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen is back on the headlines after making a remarkable comeback in the fourth round of the US Open 2026 against Iga Świątek. The Chinese qualifier not only overturned a seemingly impossible deficit but did it against one of the best players currently in the world.

She fought back from 0-5 down in the opening set to defeat eighth seed Iga Świątek 7-5, 6-3 at Arthur Ashe Stadium on September 7, 2026 reaching the Quarterfinals. This is not her first comeback as just two days before she made her first against Madison Keys. After trailing 0-5 in the deciding set, she won seven consecutive games to complete another extraordinary comeback.


Iga Świątek initially looked completely in control as the Pole attacked Zheng’s early forehands and quickly opened up a 5-0 lead, leaving the Chinese player on the verge of losing the opening set. But Zheng refused to accept the defeat.

The 23-year-old gradually fought back, gaining back her rhythm and turned the match. Her heavy groundstrokes started pushing Swiatek behind the baseline. She managed to win seven consecutive games, recovering from 0-5 to take the opening set 7-5. In the space of a few minutes, a set that initially looked like Świątek's eventually became Zheng’s.

In the second set, Świątek tried to respond but the Chinese player continued to dominate the set aggressively. Świątek eventually struggled to regain the control she had established in the beginning of the match. Zheng closed out the second set 6-3, completing a stunning straight-sets victory.


Zheng earlier managed a beautiful comeback against the former US Open Champion Madison Keys where she found herself 0-5 down in the deciding set but she saved a match point and stormed through seven straight games to win 7-5.

Two days later, she repeated the same against another Grand Slam champion. Her resilience has quickly become the defining story of her US Open campaign.

In her latest statement after the match, she said in the interview that it was not just her luck which favoured her against Madison Keys. Her statement follows, “I guess to come back from 0-5 yesterday is not ‘lucky’ that's all I can say.” As a matter of fact, the world will for sure not call her win ‘lucky’ this time as she pulled the win in front of the world twice.

The tennis world is currently in shock after the repeated comeback by the Olympic Champion. One wrote, “I can’t imagine this has ever happened before at tour level and certainly not against two grand slam champions. What the hell.”

Another user called her “the Queen of comebacks.”

One user wrote “Qinwen Zheng did it again.” She has definitely become the new favourite of the tennis world after surprising fans twice.

Zheng entered the tournament as a qualifier after an injury-hit period that included long-term elbow problems and surgery. Her ranking had fallen as low as No. 121, making her run in New York all the more unexpected. Now, she is into the quarterfinals.


The victory also carries special significance in her rivalry with Świątek. Before this match, Zheng had only beaten the Pole once in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Zheng won 6-2, 7-5 before going on to capture Olympic gold.

But Świątek had dominated their encounters on hard courts. Their previous meetings on the surface had repeatedly gone the Pole's way, making Zheng's latest victory her first hard-court win over Świątek.

Zheng’s extraordinary run is far from over.

Having already survived multiple three-set battles during the qualifying rounds and early stages of the tournament, she now stands just three victories away from potentially becoming only the second qualifier in women's singles history to win the US Open.

More importantly, she has shown that she can survive moments when the match appears completely lost. She is now into her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since Roland Garros 2025, and the first qualifier since Emma Raducanu in 2021 to reach the US Open Quarterfinals.

In two matches, two seven-game winning streaks. Two Grand Slam champions standing on the other side of the net.

Zheng Qinwen's US Open journey is no longer simply a surprising qualifier story. It is becoming one of the most extraordinary comeback runs of the tournament.