Madison Keys appeared well on her way to the fourth round of the U.S. Open — before she wasn’t.
The No. 22 seed dropped the second set to Qinwen Zheng in a tiebreaker, but led 5-1 in the third before the Chinese star won six straight games in their third-round match to oust the American from the U.S. Open 1-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 on Saturday afternoon.
Keys had a match point, but unforced errors led to her being broken three times in the set, on her way to a stunning implosion.
The 23-year-old Zheng is no ordinary opponent, having been ranked as high as No. 4 in the world in June 2025 before elbow surgery.
