No.7 seed and Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen escaped the upset in a blockbuster US Open first round, coming from a set down to defeat wild card Amanda Anisimova, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in 2 hours and 20 minutes.

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Zheng, who reached her first major quarterfinal at the 2023 US Open, made a slow start, quickly falling behind 5-1. But once she found her groove on serve in the second set, she was able to take control and roll through the decider, closing out the match with an ace and a service winner.

The Olympic gold medallist has now won 13 of her 14 matches since Wimbledon. Twelve of those comprised a winning streak on clay that included the Palermo and Paris Olympic Games titles, but Zheng had only won one hard-court match since in reaching the Cincinnati third round. Following her loss to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova there, she returned to China for a brief home visit.

By contrast, Anisimova has been one of the form players on the North American hard courts. Ranked outside the Top 100 four weeks ago -- hence needing a wild card this week -- her run in Toronto to her first WTA 1000 final boosted her back to her current No.50.

Zheng will next face Erika Andreeva, who held off Yuan Yue 6-3, 7-6(7). Andreeva, at a career high of No.75 after reaching her first WTA quarterfinal last week in Monterrey, saved one set point in the second-set tiebreak before hammering a forehand winner to convert her second match point.

Slow start for Zheng: In Zheng's on-court interview afterwards, she admitted that she "couldn't do anything" in the first set. Anisimova was painting the lines with winners, particularly off her backhand wing, while Zheng landed only 43% of her first serves.

Despite being comprehensively outhit, Zheng did manage to find something to build on by the end of the set. She managed to save eight out of 11 break points, including the first three set points as she cut Anisimova's lead from 5-1 to 5-4. During this stretch, the American also showed some vulnerability with three double faults across two service games.

This wasn't enough to save the set -- Anisimova broke again, converting her fourth set point with a breathtaking forehand winner down the line -- but Zheng had a foothold in the match.

Wacky second-set turning point: The second set was played at a fast tempo with superb, high-octane power tennis from both players. In the third game, Anisimova drew gasps with three perfectly struck backhand winners; Zheng responded in the next game with four aces out of five points.

It took a stroke of absurdity to open the door for a breakthrough. At 2-2, 0-15, Anisimova slammed down a huge serve out wide. Zheng barely got her racquet on the return, but managed to load it with so much backspin that, having crept over the net, it ricocheted back on to her side of the court. Anisimova had been ready to slam home the winner, but ended up having to reach so far over the net that her foot lurched into it -- losing her the point.

Two miscued forehands later, Zheng had the first and only break of the set. Though she missed four break points for a double-break lead in Anisimova's next service game, her own delivery was in impenetrable form. Zheng landed 59% of her first serves and won 94% of those points, dropping just seven points on serve in total.

Bar a brief mid-set blip, Zheng sustained this level through the decider as Anisimova's began to fluctuate. Anisimova received treatment on her left foot before the third set, and seemed to jar her right wrist hitting a slice in the second game; though she intermittently still found some spectacular winners, it wasn't enough to reel Zheng in.

Zheng finished the match with a total of 32 winners (including 12 aces) to Anisimova's 21, and 33 unforced errors to her opponent's 38.

Zheng on how she might have lost this match in the past: "It's the typical match I will lose, especially after huge success, because as I know myself, usually after huge success I will get a little bit too high, until the reality slap me down again and I come back to the ground and trying to be humble and work hard.

"So this time when I get a success, I'm telling myself, I don't want to let this happen. I'm going to continue working hard, keep the stable mindset. I'm really happy to get this match, because she's really tough to face. Like you see, she's in the final of Toronto. I think one of her best surfaces is on hard court. To win this match means I make one step forward in my mental side."

Other early first-round results: Zheng and Anisimova weren't the only notable names in action early on Day 1.

  • Wang Yafan was the first player to book her place in the second round, advancing when No.9 seed Maria Sakkari retired after losing the first set 6-2. Sakkari was competing for the first time since the Paris Olympics, having pulled out of Toronto and Cincinnati due to a shoulder injury.
  • Former semifinalist and No.27 seed Elina Svitolina had to battle hard to hold off Maria Lourdes Carle 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in 2 hours and 20 minutes. The Argentinian impressed with her heavy forehand and a number of pinpoint passes, but Svitolina upped her aggression over the course of the match, hitting 22 out of her 29 winners in the second and third sets.
  • No.12 seed Daria Kasatkina claimed her third win in three meetings with Jaqueline Cristian for a 6-2, 6-4 victory. It was the most straightforward of those wins: at Doha 2022, Cristian was forced to retire when leading by a set; and in the Charleston quarterfinals this April, Kasatkina had needed to come from a set down to win.
  • No.24 seed Donna Vekic won her first match since claiming the Olympic silver medal a month ago, defeating qualifier Kimberly Birrell 6-4, 6-4.
  • No.26 seed Paula Badosa raced past Viktorija Golubic 6-0, 6-3 in just 69 minutes.
  • Qualifier Maya Joint delivered an impressive 6-4, 7-5 win over Laura Siegemund in her tour-level debut. The 18-year-old Australian led 5-0 in the second set before Siegemund pegged her back with a run of five games, but Joint gathered herself to close out the match on her fourth match point.