Zheng Qinwen produces miraculous escape act against Madison Keys at US Open

[p]The Olympic ‌champion was forced to go through qualifying only two years ‌after reaching the quarter-finals for the second time, in ‌a career slump that saw her undergo surgery last year and she collapsed on the court with joy after the win.[/p][p]The ‌22nd-seeded [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/keys-madison/QwU996PK/"]Keys[/a] pulled off an escape act ⁠worthy of Houdini in ‌the second round, saving five match points against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bondar-anna/O8s9yjMD/"]Anna Bondar[/a], ​but did not have the magic this time around as she let the contest slip through ​her fingers in the final moments.[/p][embed guid="13ebbf8b-0d36-42c2-8ec7-004ebc923550" url="https://x.com/usopen/status/2096294899511427204" social-type="twitter" /][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zheng-qinwen/xCyEhjAS/"]Zheng[/a] next faces either six-times major winner [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/swiatek-iga/jNyZsXZe/"]Iga Swiatek[/a] or Czech [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bouzkova-marie/WMS3AdAb/"]Marie Bouzkova[/a], ⁠who play later ​on Saturday.[/p][p]"[b]Finally one time a bit of luck is on my side[/b]," said Zheng. "[b]I'm so happy and I know in the last match she also did that comeback. It ‌was a very dramatic match for me but we both showed up with very strong tennis[/b]."[/p][p]Zheng dropped serve with a double fault in the fourth game and Keys broke her to love in the opening set's penultimate game as the American looked poised to roll through.[/p][p]But Zheng flipped the script in the second set, fighting through the tiebreak before sealing it with a ‌lethal strike from the baseline.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="7fcfb649-94f4-43f7-bcdb-5f4ba21434be" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="7c7ce83a-5994-4b5a-9691-1b3473bcc3e2" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Keys had her foot on ​the gas in the third set but Zheng ‌found the brakes, saving match point in the seventh game before getting the break with a forehand winner.[/p][p]Keys' nerves began to unravel from there as she piled up errors before handing over the contest ⁠on match point with ⁠a shot just out ‌of bounds.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/keys-m-QwU996PK/zheng-q-xCyEhjAS/?mid=8QdDaEc5"]See all the stats from the match here[/a][/b][/p]