Zheng Qinwen Fights Back to US Open Third Round

Zheng Qinwen dropped to the court, then sprang back up, fist clenched and eyes blazing. On a sticky New York afternoon, the Olympic champion looked and sounded like herself again.

The 2024 gold medallist fought past Yulia Putintseva 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 on Thursday to reach the US Open third round, a gritty win that felt bigger than the scoreline. It marked another step in a long, stubborn climb back from an elbow surgery that turned her 2025 season into a slog.

Before the operation, Zheng moved through draws with the ease of a rising star. Former world number four, fearless ball-striker, a player who expected to win.

“Before the surgery, for me winning is like drinking water -- everything comes natural, everything comes fluent,” she said.

That rhythm vanished. The elbow, the rehab, the rust — they all dragged her down. She missed the Australian Open. The results that followed never quite matched her talent or her memories. She ran into the best players in the world and could not quite finish them off.

“After my surgery, I had some tough matches against the best players in the world (and) I'm close but I don't get them,” she admitted. “I totally lost the dynamic of how to compete.”

The ranking told the same story, and it stung. Zheng fell so far she needed to survive qualifying just to step into the main draw at Flushing Meadows. For a player who had grown used to seeded status and big stages, the reality bit hard.

“It takes a while for me to accept my ranking dropped to 125 and, OK, I need to actually play qualies,” she said.

Those days on the outside courts, though, forced something to shift. Point by point, match by match, the instincts crept back in. The fight returned.

“Now after two, three months I really felt the first time in this tournament I find myself, I found my fire back during the competition,” she said.

That fire was obvious in the decider against Putintseva. After dropping the second set, Zheng surged through the third, dictating rallies and roaring after winners. The scoreline flipped, and so did the feeling around her campaign.

The reward is a third-round showdown with former Australian Open champion Madison Keys and, almost certainly, a return to one of the main arenas she once took for granted.

Zheng has spent this week grinding on the outer courts, far from the spotlight that used to follow her. She wants it back — all of it.