NEW YORK (Reuters) – Last year’s U.S. open runner-up Ons Jabeur was knocked out in the fourth round by China’s Zheng Qinwen who handed the ailing Tunisian fifth seed a 6-2 6-4 defeat on Monday.
An illness left Jabeur struggling to catch her breath at times earlier in the tournament and she ran out of puff against Zheng, who sent over 21 winners at Louis Armstrong Stadium to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final.
Zheng will face the winner of Monday’s clash between 13th seed Daria Kasatkina and second seed Aryna Sabalenka.
“Right now I feel just super happy and excited to play in a big stadium and have a really good performance,” Zheng said on court. “That was really an amazing win for me.”
There were early signs of trouble for Jabeur as she handed Zheng a break with a double fault in the third game and the Chinese player cruised through the fourth.
They traded breaks in the fifth and sixth but Zheng added to her advantage when Jabeur produced another double fault and two unforced errors – among 33 in the match – in the seventh.
Down two breaks in the second set, Jabeur got lucky when Zheng dropped her serve with a pair of double faults in the eighth game. She made Zheng work for the win, saving a match point in the ninth game and two more in the 10th.
Zheng finally subdued the Tunisian with a sublime cross-court forehand and raised her fists into the air in triumph.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)
