US Open Day 7: Two third-round matches that turned on one game
Covering Saturday, September 5, 2026 — Day 7 at Flushing Meadows, third round of both singles draws.
Zheng was 0-5 down in the third set. Here is the game that changed it.
Madison Keys had a match point at 5-1 in the third set. She did not win another game after it. Zheng Qinwen took the last seven in a row, and the game at 5-1 — the one where the match was there to be closed out — is the last one Keys won.
Zheng Qinwen def. Madison Keys (22) 1-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 Third round, women's singles. Saturday, September 5, 2026. Two hours, 28 minutes.
How it started
The first set was one-way. Keys served the better of the two all match — 71 of 106 first serves in, 67 percent, against Zheng's 44 of 89, under half — and in the opening set that gap did the work. Zheng was defending second-serve points she was not winning. According to the WTA's match report, Keys won 20 of the last 23 points of the set.
The turn
The second set is where the shape of the match changed, and it changed twice. Zheng broke for 5-3 and served for the set. Keys broke straight back for 5-4, and the set went to a tiebreak that looked like it would follow the first set's pattern. It did not. Zheng won six of the last seven points of the breaker, three of them with winners, and took it 7-3.
In the third Keys went to 5-0 and reached match point at 5-1. From there Zheng won seven consecutive games. Across the match Keys converted five of eight break points and Zheng four of eight; the difference was when Zheng's arrived.
How it finished
Zheng served out at 7-5. The total-points column read 98 to 97 in her favour out of 195 played — a one-point margin across two and a half hours. Keys hit four aces to Zheng's two and one double fault to Zheng's five, and still lost.
In her post-match press conference, Keys said she "got really scared, like I couldn't swing." In her on-court interview, Zheng said she had "been through really tough moments these last three, four, five months."
What a club player can steal from it
Zheng put fewer than half her first serves in and still won, because her second serve did not hand over the point: 24 of 45 second-serve points, 53 percent, against Keys's 14 of 35, 40 percent. When the first serve deserts you mid-match, the fix available is not a bigger first serve. It is a second serve with enough spin and depth that the returner has to build the point rather than start it two shots ahead. Track that number — second-serve points won — ahead of your ace count.
Cerundolo faced 0-40 at 3-4 in the fifth. He did not lose another game.
Francisco Cerundolo had lost the first two sets when he arrived at 3-4 in the fifth, serving, and went to 0-40. He saved all three break points, broke Taylor Fritz in the next game and served the match out. Those three points were the match.
Francisco Cerundolo (24) def. Taylor Fritz (9) 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 Third round, men's singles, Arthur Ashe Stadium. Saturday, September 5, 2026. Three hours, 39 minutes.
How it started
Fritz took the first two sets by doing the simple thing well — holding, and taking the one break per set that a tight match offers. Cerundolo's problem across the match was not power but placement: he finished with 61 percent of first serves in, and when he missed, his second serve was the weakest shot on the court. He won 33 percent of his second-serve points for the match, 18 of 55.
The turn
The third set opened with Fritz breaking again, which should have settled it. Instead Cerundolo broke straight back in the second game and again in the sixth to take the set 6-3. That immediate break-back is the moment the match stops being a formality; everything after it is Fritz having to win it a second time.
The fourth set followed the same rhythm. Cerundolo saved a break point in the second game and broke in the seventh for 6-4. Then the fifth, and the game the match rests on. Serving at 3-4, Cerundolo went to 0-40. According to the ATP's report, he answered with three unreturned first serves to get back to deuce, and held. Fritz opened the next game with a double fault, per Tennis Now, and was broken. Cerundolo served out at 5-4.
How it finished
Fritz won more points than Cerundolo — 150 to 148 — and lost in five. Both men made 54 unforced errors. The separation was on serve and at the net: Cerundolo won 81 percent of his first-serve points to Fritz's 67 percent, and went 19 for 23 at the net against Fritz's 12 for 19.
"I don't know how I let that happen today," Fritz said afterwards, as reported by the Associated Press. Cerundolo, quoted by Tennis Now, said he "played really good tennis in the fourth and the fifth set."
What a club player can steal from it
Two sets down, the instinct is to hit harder. Cerundolo instead changed where his points ended, going forward 23 times and winning 19 of them. Net points are the cheapest source of free points in club tennis and the most neglected — a short ball, two steps in, one volley. Count how many times you came in last match. If the answer is under ten, that is the adjustment sitting unused in your game.
Around the grounds
Alexander Blockx def. Flavio Cobolli (5) 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 — the ATP reported Blockx won 11 consecutive games from 2-3 in the second set through 1-0 in the fourth.
Iga Swiatek (8) def. Marie Bouzkova (25) 7-6(3), 7-6(3) — both sets went to tiebreaks, and both went the same way.
Anastasia Potapova (24) def. Amanda Anisimova (10) 6-2, 7-5 — Anisimova converted three of 16 break points; Potapova took six of eight.
Naomi Osaka (13) def. Elise Mertens (23) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 — Osaka trailed 4-2 in the deciding set before turning it round.
Iva Jovic (14) def. Alexandra Eala (17) 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 — three sets and over three hours.
Coco Gauff (4) def. Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 6-4 — Gauff landed 49 percent of her first serves and hit six double faults, and won in straight sets anyway.
Mirra Andreeva (5) def. Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 7-6(5) — the second set went to a tiebreak.
Botic van de Zandschulp def. Zizou Bergs (31) 3-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 — five sets, with van de Zandschulp taking both tiebreaks. Tiebreak scores were not reported.
Karen Khachanov def. Benjamin Bonzi 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 — straight sets, no break of the pattern reported.
Alexander Zverev def. Alejandro Tabilo 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-2 — Zverev needed a tiebreak only in the second set.
What's next
Sunday, September 6 moves to the fourth round, with the round of 16 filling out the quarterfinal line-up.
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