(August 26, 2024) FLUSHING, NY – Olympic gold medalist and seventh Qinwen Zheng from China rallied to beat Amanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
American Anisimova, ranked No. 50th in the world, jumped out to a two-break lead serving for the first set at 5-1. Zheng won the next three straight games to get back on serve for 4-5. Anisimova broke the gold medalist for the first set.
Zheng came back to win the second set 6-4 and in the third set, Anisimova needed a medical time out and fell to 0-3 in the set down two breaks. The American won the next two games, but Zheng won the final 3 to close out the match and reach the second round.
“I’m happy about what I did in the past, but right now I just want to focus here,” Zheng said on court after the match.
“It’s very difficult match for first round,” she said to media. “She’s a tough opponent to face, but I’m glad at the end I found a way to been through the match and win this match.”
“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, and 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 won this match which means I make one step forward in my mental side.”
Zheng talked about being in New York: “I think if I want to do better in New York, I think I need to continue find my real game on hard court and maybe trying to be a bit more aggressive. Because in the match today, I would like to be aggressive, but I feel that, no, today if I go aggressive, maybe I have more chance to me, so I prefer stay more calm and then just play one more shot.
“But yeah, I would say just trying to fight every match and let’s see what I can do this year in New York.”
Maria Sakkari became the first seeded casualty of the US Open when she retired from her match with China’s Yafan Wang after the losing the first set 6-2.
Sakkari was the ninth seed.
Other seeds advancing on Monday were 12th seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia, Olympic silver medalist and 24th seed Donna Vekic, No. 27 Elina Svitolina and No. 32 Dayana Yastremska.
More to follow…
