Zheng Qinwen won her opening qualifying match at the US Open on Tuesday, four years after the last time she needed preliminary rounds at a major and days before the main draw begins. Her only previous experience of Grand Slam qualifying came at the 2022 Australian Open, the first major of her career; that run carried her into the top 100, a neighborhood she did not leave until June. This year has gone 12-13, an elbow operation last July hollowed out her rhythm, and her ranking has slid to No. 121 — which is how a 2024 Olympic gold medalist came to be seeded No. 14 in a qualifying draw. [1]
The match itself was never in doubt. Zheng conceded just three points behind her first serve against her countrywoman You, broke serve at the start and end of both sets, and struck 18 winners to her opponent's nine — against a No. 205-ranked opponent mired in a seven-match losing streak dating to June. She will face France's Clara Burel next, herself on the comeback trail from an ACL injury that cost her a full season. Zheng, a two-time US Open quarterfinalist in 2023 and 2024, knows this venue in its main-draw costume; the qualifying courts are the part she has never needed since she was a teenager. [1]
Across the same draw walked Bianca Andreescu, who won this tournament in 2019, beating Dutchwoman Eva Vedder 6-1, 6-2 in 66 minutes. Now ranked No. 183, the Canadian next meets the No. 24 seed Veronika Podrez. The tournament's own account posted clips of her diving after balls in the evening session with a single admiring line about hustle. [1] Nostalgia runs hot around Andreescu. Around Zheng, the arithmetic does not.
Qualifying continues through Thursday, 128 players per draw chasing 16 main-draw places, with the draw ceremony Thursday and main-draw play beginning Sunday. Some prominent names never reached even this gate: Emma Raducanu withdrew with a grade-four stress fracture in her right leg, and Jack Draper missed the direct-entry cutoff entirely, meaning he must win three matches just to reach the stadium he was seeded in two seasons ago. [2]
The week's strangest headline act is not in qualifying at all. The reimagined mixed doubles championship runs through Wednesday, and its direct-entry list reads like a fantasy draft — Aryna Sabalenka paired with Novak Djokovic atop seven teams entered on combined singles ranking, Jessica Pegula alongside Taylor Fritz, Amanda Anisimova with Learner Tien. [3]
Off court, a quieter standoff simmers. Players, with Pegula among them, are withholding judgment on any protest until the US Open announces how its prize money will be allocated — a decision clock that now runs parallel to Fan Week itself. [4]
The USTA would prefer the story be the free grounds and the sport arriving in New York in celebration mode, and Flushing Meadows is genuinely festive this week. But a Slam where an Olympic champion must qualify, where a former champion grinds through prelims at No. 183, and where stars exit through injury or ranking math tells you more about the tour's economics than any ceremony will. This qualifying field is deep for a reason. It is the middle class of the women's game, thinning in public view. [1]
-- AMARA OKONKWO, Lagos