US Open: Stunned Iga Swiatek loses her cool after heavy loss to Qinwen Zheng
Former US Open champion Iga Swiatek lost her cool at a press conference after Monday’s stunning fourth-round loss to Qinwen Zheng. The Polish star led 5-0 in the opening set at the Arthur Ashe Stadium but suffered an extraordinary collapse to lose 5-7, 3-6 in the Chinese qualifier.
Frustration followed Swiatek into the press room. Asked how she would process the capitulation of both the command leadership and use it as a learning experience, the Pole looked visibly upset before pouncing on reporters.
Here is the exchange:
Journalist: More specifically about the first set, after 5 years of loving it and bouncing back from it… how do you think you’re going to embrace it and grow from it?”
Iga Swiatek: “It’s just one match, like… try to play the same as usual. What do you mean? Do you think it’s something crazy? You can lose a set by any score, nothing special. It just happened and that’s it.”
Iga Swiatek in the press after losing to Qinwen Zheng:
“More specifically about the first set, with the love and the rebound from that…how do you think you’re going to take it and grow from it?”
“It’s just one match, like… try to play like pic.twitter.com/sYQ9dmKWKE— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 7, 2026
SWIATEK CRASHES IN US OPEN
Swiatek looked to be firmly in control as she raced to a 5-0 lead, but Zheng slowly found her rhythm and began to turn the match on its head. The Chinese qualifier saved three set points before winning seven straight games to steal the opening set.
It was the second straight match in which Zheng recovered from a 5-0 loss at the US Open. She performed an almost identical escape in the deciding set against Madison Keys in the previous round.
This time, however, the comeback came against the six-time Grand Slam champion, who had dominated their previous meeting. Swiatek had won seven of eight meetings before Monday.
Zheng refused to be impressed by the record.
The Olympic champion kept forcing Swiatek into difficult exchanges and carried the momentum into the second set. Swiatek took a medical timeout after the third game as a physical therapist treated her left thigh, but returned to the court and continued to play.
Zheng continued to apply pressure and finally broke in the seventh game with a backhand winner down the line. She then held her nerve on serve for the match and converted her fourth match point to complete one of the biggest wins of her career.
Swiatek was left to rue a match she seemed to be firmly in control of.
“It’s hard to get over it when that happens. And maybe I could have played safer or something, but I also didn’t feel like I had the space to do that with Qinwen,” Swiatek said.
“If I was more solid than her, I would have won this game, but I wasn’t solid and I missed too much.
ZHENG’S RETURN
For Zheng, this victory completes another remarkable chapter in her comeback.
The 2024 Olympic champion saw her progress interrupted by a chronic right elbow problem and underwent surgery last year. She qualified in New York and reached the quarterfinals after knocking out Madison Keys and Swiatek in successive rounds.
“I didn’t expect it today, but somehow it just keeps happening,” Zheng said after her latest comeback.
She will now face the second-seeded Elena Rybakina for a place in the semi-finals.
For Swiatek, meanwhile, defeat spells an early end to another Grand Slam campaign. But it was her extraordinary reversal of fortune from 5-0 up and her fiery reaction when asked about it afterwards that became the defining moments of her night in New York.
– The end
Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
08 Sep 2026 11:24 IST