No.23 seed Zheng Qinwen of China broke new ground in her burgeoning career at the US Open on Monday, upsetting No.5 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-2, 6-4 and reaching her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
The 20-year-old Zheng, who was the 2022 WTA Newcomer of the Year, took 1 hour and 22 minutes to blast past last year’s US Open runner-up Jabeur on Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Read more: 'She put a dream seed in my heart': Zheng Qinwen credits Li Na at US Open
Here are more key facts and figures from Zheng’s fourth-round win over Jabeur:
4: Zheng’s latest upset win is her fourth career victory over a Top 10 player, and her first at a Grand Slam event. Her last Top 10 win had come over then-No.8 Daria Kasatkina at Abu Dhabi in February, and she had lost her next four matches against Top 10 players until toppling Jabeur on Monday.
Top-10 win number FOUR 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
— wta (@WTA) September 4, 2023
Zheng Qinwen goes on to face either Sabalenka or Kasatkina for a place in the #USOpen semifinals!pic.twitter.com/nbpa1DZbHp
4: The current Chinese No.1, Zheng is the fourth Chinese woman to reach the US Open singles quarterfinals in the Open Era (since 1968). She joins Li Na (2009 quarterfinals and 2013 semifinals), Peng Shuai (2014 semifinals) and Wang Qiang (2019 quarterfinals).
US Open 2023: Draw | Order of play | Scores | 411
2: Zheng had already made a bit of history this fortnight, when she and her compatriot Wang Xinyu both reached the Round of 16. It was the first time two Chinese women made the Round of 16 at the same US Open.
5: The first set was dominated by Zheng, who won all five of her net approaches in the opening frame. Zheng built a double-break lead at 4-1, then staved off a break point in the final game of the set to garner the one-set advantage.
21: Zheng built another massive lead in the second set, moving ahead 5-2, but she failed to serve out the match in that game, then missed a match point at 5-3.
In her second opportunity serving for the match, Zheng needed three more match points, but she eventually closed out the win for her career-best Grand Slam showing. Zheng finished the match with 21 winners to 17 unforced errors, and she broke Jabeur six times.
7: Jabeur, who reached the second of her three Grand Slam finals at last year's US Open, had already spent just over seven hours on court in her grueling first three rounds combined. In her fourth-rounder on Monday, the Tunisian's 17 winners were outpaced by 32 unforced errors.