Aug 30, 2024, 01:53 PM ET
No. 26 seed Paula Badosa came back from a set down and staved off a match point late in the third set Friday to reach the round of 16 at the US Open for the first time.
Badosa ultimately prevailed against Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse in a third-set tiebreak 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8).
It was the second deciding-set tiebreak played on the women’s side this tournament (Ena Shibahara defeated Daria Saville in the first round).
Badosa has now reached the round of 16 at all four majors. She is the fifth Spanish woman in the Open era to reach the fourth round at all four Slams, following Garbine Muguruza, Conchita Martínez, Carla Suarez Navarro and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario.
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Badosa next faces China’s Wang Yafan, who on Friday ousted No. 20 seed Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Azarenka, a three-time US Open finalist, committed 32 unforced errors and dropped serve six times in the 2 hour, 22 minute match.
American Emma Navarro, the No. 13 seed, needed three sets but got past No. 19 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Up next for Navarro is a Wimbledon rematch with No. 3 Coco Gauff in the round of 16.
“I did a good job of neutralizing her serve and just playing really aggressive from the baseline and pushing back against her groundstrokes,” Navarro, who is from South Carolina and won an NCAA title for Virginia, said about that matchup last month. “And then always getting one more ball back in the court.”
No. 7 seed Zheng Qinwen, the 2024 Olympic singles gold medalist and Australian Open runner-up, shook off slow starts in her first two matches and took down unseeded German Jule Niemeier 6-2, 6-1 to reach the round of 16 for a second straight year.
“Finally, it’s the first match I won in two sets. … It’s not [been] easy for me to play after the Olympic Games,” said Zheng, who has noted previous struggles with focus after deep tournament runs. “I’m starting to find my tennis and to play better and better.”
No. 20 seed Victoria Azarenka, a three-time US Open finalist, lost to China’s Wang Yafan in the third round Friday. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Zheng is the second Chinese woman in the Open era to reach the round of 16 in back-to-back US Opens, joining Li Na, who did so in 2008 and 2009.
Zheng next faces Donna Vekic, whom she defeated in the gold-medal match in Paris. Since 1988, the only other matchup to occur both at the US Open and in the Olympic singles gold-medal match was Steffi Graf vs. Gabriela Sabatini in 1988. The US Open final was played right before the Seoul Olympics, and Graf beat Sabatini both events. Tennis returned to the Olympic program in 1988 after a long hiatus.
Vekic, who beat American Peyton Stearns 7-5, 6-4, said she was optimistic she would do better against Zheng on New York’s hardcourts just a few weeks after coming off second best on clay at the Paris Games.
“She played an unbelievable match in Paris. She was too good that match. I had couple of chances but didn’t manage to pull them off,” the 24th seed told reporters. “But it’s a new match. We’re a couple of weeks later. It’s a different surface, thankfully for me.”
ESPN Stats & Information, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
