Zheng Qinwen (ranked 121st, China), who has recently returned from an injury, staged a dramatic comeback to reach the round of 16 at the 2026 US Open (total prize money of $108 million).

Playing on the 7th day of the tournament at Flushing Meadows in New York on the 5th (local time), Zheng defeated Madison Keys (ranked 24th, United States) 2-1 (1-6 7-6<7-3> 7-5) in the women's singles third round.

It looked as though the momentum had shifted when Keys, the runner-up at last year's Australian Open, comfortably took the first set in just 23 minutes.

However, 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist Zheng claimed the second set through a tiebreak and overturned the match in the third set by winning seven consecutive games after falling behind 0-5 and facing a match point.

This marks Zheng's first appearance in the round of 16 at a major tournament since reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open last year.

The achievement is all the more meaningful as it comes after overcoming an elbow injury.

Zheng enjoyed a spectacular 2024 season.

She finished as the runner-up at the Australian Open, won the Paris Olympic gold, reached the quarterfinals of the US Open, and climbed to No. 4 in the world rankings.

However, her upward trajectory did not last long.

A chronic injury involving loose bone fragments in her elbow was discovered, forcing her to undergo surgery in July of last year.

Returning after nine months at this year's French Open, she suffered a first-round defeat against Maja Chwalińska (ranked 22nd, Poland) and shed tears in the press conference.

Her ranking plummeted to 160th, and she had to go through the qualifying rounds of a major tournament for the first time in four years at this US Open.

Reflecting on her journey, Zheng said, "I even cried when I won the third round of qualifying. It feels like luck was finally on my side today. I just kept telling myself not to give up, and things slowly turned around."

In the men's singles, where upsets have continued to unfold, more "victims" emerged.

World No. 10 Taylor Fritz (United States) and No. 6 Flavio Cobolli (Italy) were both eliminated in the third round.

Fritz suffered a comeback defeat to Francisco Cerúndolo (ranked 25th, Argentina) 2-3 (6-3 6-4 3-6 4-6 4-6).

The defeat came as an even greater surprise since Cerúndolo had been on a three-match losing streak heading into the tournament.

Fritz, the runner-up at the 2024 US Open, said, "I don't know how that happened today. For the next few days, I don't want to talk to anyone or see anyone."

Cobolli lost to Alexander Blockx (ranked 34th, Belgium) 1-3 (7-6<7-4> 3-6 0-6 3-6).

Cobolli, who had been enjoying the best year of his career with a runner-up finish at this year's French Open and a quarterfinal appearance at Wimbledon, suffered a blow to his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals for the first time in his life following the defeat.

Blockx is a player who made his main draw debut at a major tournament at this year's Australian Open.

After reaching the semifinals at the Madrid Masters in April, he sharply raised his ranking from around the 100th mark and entered a major tournament as a seeded player (No. 28) for the first time.

During the opening week, six of the top 10 seeds in the men's singles were eliminated.

Previously, Novak Djokovic (No. 4 seed, ranked 5th, Serbia), Arthur Fils (No. 10 seed, ranked 11th, France), Félix Auger-Aliassime (No. 3 seed, ranked 4th, Canada), and Alex de Minaur (No. 6 seed, ranked 7th, Australia) packed their bags in succession.

(Photo: Yonhap News)