NEW YORK – A year ago, Marketa Vondrousova missed the season’s last three Grand Slams. In recent months, though, she found a level of consistent excellence, won her first major title at Wimbledon and crashed into the Top 10.

On Monday, the 24-year-old from the Czech Republic achieved another first: A quarterfinal berth at the US Open.

US Open 2023: Draw | Order of play | Scores | 411

Vondrousova was a 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 winner over unseeded Peyton Stearns. The American was the longest of shots to reach the quarters when Day 8 play began. Stearns was the only unseeded player of the 12 remaining in the draw.

On Wednesday, Vondrousova will play No.17 Madison Keys, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over No.3 Jessica Pegula. This will be Keys’ 10th major quarterfinal and her second straight.

Keys stuns No.3 Pegula to return to US Open quarterfinals

“She was playing great from the beginning, and I just tried to stay in the game,” Vondrousova said. “I’m very happy. I actually didn’t expect it after Wimby -- it was a lot of pressure. We’ll see what happens next.”

Vondrousova broke Stearns seven times and took advantage of her 21 unforced errors in the third set.

Stearns was a three-time All-American at the University of Texas, who helped the Longhorns win back-to-back NCAA Division 1 team titles. After becoming the first player in school history to win the singles championship, she decided to turn professional. Her goal? Reach the Top 200 by the end of 2022.

She came in at No.209.

“Then at the start of this year I told myself by the end of the year I wanted to be in the Top 100,” Stearns explained. “That happened I think in March or April, so it happened pretty quickly. Then I told myself I wanted to be Top 75, and that happened pretty quickly.

“Once I cracked that, I told myself I wanted to be top 50.”

When Stearns defeated Katie Boulter in the third round, she put herself in good position to crack that Top 50 barrier after the tournament.

“Now I have to make a new goal,” she said afterward.

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If the matchup with Vondrousova seemed vaguely familiar, that’s because they just played in the first round at Wimbledon. In her first match on the way to the title, Vondrousova defeated Stearns 6-2, 7-5. That win kicked off her current 11-match win streak at the Slams.

This one looked a little different from the start. Stearns ran out to a 4-1 lead, but Vondrousova slowly, steadily crept back and at the 41-minute mark it was 5-all. At that point, light rain began to fall and the roof on Louis Armstrong Stadium was closed.

Stearns, despite an untimely double fault, put in a gritty hold and forced Vondrousova to serve her way into a tiebreaker. And that was where Stearns excelled, winning the last three points to secure the first set -- delighting the overflow, pro-American crowd.

It was the first set either player had dropped here.

Vondrousova, as you might expect from a major champion, came right back. She broke Stearns at love to go up 2-0. A 109 miles-per-hour ace down the middle made it 3-0. But after that wobble, Stearns came back. She broke Vondrousova for the second time and, screaming, sent the set back on serve.

Ultimately, Vondrousova broke Stearns’ serve three times and pushed the match to an ultimate set.

The first game was an eight-minute game-changer. Vondrousova hit a backhand winner as Stearns approached the net, converting her fifth break point of the game. That gave her a 2-0 lead, which she expanded to 3-0 with another break, effectively ending the match.