Tunisia's Ons Jabeur crashes out of US Open at round of 16

Zheng Qinwen routed last year’s U.S. Open runner-up Ons Jabeur 6-2, 6-4 on Monday to move into the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows.

Zheng, who is seeded No. 23, becomes the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open since Wang Qiang in 2019. She did it by overpowering the fifth-seeded Tunisian with an aggressive baseline game that produced 21 winners.

“I feel just super happy and excited to play in a big stadium and have a really good performance today,” the 20-year-old Zheng told the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd.

For Jabeur, who committed 33 unforced errors and has appeared ill at times during her U.S. Open run, it was a disappointing finish after reaching the finals of three of the last five Grand Slam events, including the last two Wimbledons.

Zheng’s win mean three of last year’s four U.S. Open singles finalists are gone, leaving only second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, a Belarussian who will take over the No. 1 spot in the WTA rankings because of the fourth-round loss by No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek.

Zheng will play the winner of the match later between Sabalenka and No. 13 Daria Kasatkina. That will give Zheng the chance to play for more history — to equal the best runs ever by Chinese players at the U.S. Open, semifinals appearances by Shuai Peng in 2014 and Li Na in 2013.