Qinwen Zheng reached the Quarter-Finals of the US Open last year and she will likely be favoured to do so again with the Olympic gold medalist finding her way past Amanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Anisimova looked visibly hampered mainly with her foot with blisters seemingly effecting her as well as wrist issues as the Chinese ace took full control after losing the first set.
She raised her level on serve with Anisimova struggling with unforced errors. She hit 38 in all compared to 21 winners in the contest as Qinwen showed her class in the end.
The American will hold her head high despite this disheartening loss as she has reached the top 50 again after being in the tennis wilderness and reached the Canadian Open final recently. But a tough draw saw her always likely to come out second best against a player at the top of her game right now.
Anisimova though could've had it even simpler in the opening set. She went 5-1 up but spurned three set points and Qinwen cut the gap before the American finally fell over the line. But as Qinwen upped her level, Anisimova fell away. She lost her serve at 2-2 in the second and was nearly broken again at 4-2 before Qinwen sealed the set. In the third, it was a pretty simple task as Qinwen barely lost points on serve and also broke three times in the set including erasing a break from Anisimova at 3-1 pretty quickly en route to sealing the win.
Next up is the older sister of Mirra, Erika Andreeva who has been having some good results as of late and she found her way past Yue Yuan 6-3, 7-6 earlier this evening. Other victors include Diane Parry, Donna Vekic, Daria Kasatkina and also Elina Svitolina who won in a three setter against Maria Lourdes Carle.
🇵🇱 Qinwen Zheng pokonała Amandę Anisimovą 4:6, 6:4, 6:2 i awansowała do drugiej rundy, gdzie zagra z Eriką Andreevą. 🇬🇧 Qinwen Zheng beats Amanda Anisimova 4:6, 6:4, 6:2 and advances to the R2, where she will play against Erika Andreeva. 📸 Jimmie48 | #USOpen | #czasnatenis
