Before the match, these two players definitely didn't need to be introduced to each other. Just a month earlier, they had played the most important match of their careers so far, the final of the Olympic Games in Paris. At that time, the conqueror of Iga Świątek, the Chinese Zheng, proved to be much better, winning 6:2, 6:3.
US Open: The dust from Paris has barely settled, and here comes the rematch
Fate decided not to wait too long with a chance for revenge for Vekić. After the already very successful Olympics, she did not do too well in Cincinnati, where she unexpectedly lost in the first match to American Ashlyn Krueger. However, she returned to the US Open rebuilt and won without losing a set against Belgian Greet Minnen (7:5, 6:1) and American Peyton Stearns (7:5, 6:4).
As for the Olympic champion, she was also apparently suffering from a certain “victory hangover” in Cincinnati, because she was thrown out in the 1/8 finals by the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (5:7, 1:6). But in New York it was a different story. She may not have played as steadily as Vekić, because Amanda Anisimova and Erika Andreyeva took sets from her, but in the end the Chinese player survived all difficulties and entered the 1/8 finals.
Zheng – Vekić. An hour for a match is not enough. But sometimes for a set too
In this one we could rub our hands in anticipation of the great rematch and it was definitely worth waiting for. This was already shown in the first, extremely even set. Both players served brilliantly, which was visible in the lack of breaks. There were only two break points and Zheng had them in the seventh game, but she did not use both of them. Statistically, both ladies looked very similar, they even sent almost the same number of winners (15:14 for the Chinese player). The tiebreak was the deciding factor, which Zheng played much better. A quick mini-break and a 4:1 lead, which she did not waste. She won 7:2 and ultimately the whole set 7:6(2).
The second set was no less even than the first. Heck! It even lasted longer and over an hour, despite the fact that there was no tiebreak in it. And that's because there were breaks. First, Vekić took the lead 2:0, but Zheng quickly made up for the loss. Later, the players did not let up, and the key game was the one with the score 5:4 for Vekić. The Croatian had three set points in it. She wasted the first two and it seemed that she would be kicking herself. Luckily for her, she used the third one and tied the game after over an hour.
Vekić defeated once again. Will Zheng stop Sabalenka?
The fourth set wasn't short either, although much less equal. Zheng broke her opponent at the first opportunity and had no intention of losing this advantage. She was extremely effective on her own serve, not giving the Croatian even a break point. In turn, she was fueled by further successful actions and finally added a second break for 5:2.
Vekić's situation became dire and remained so. The Chinese player did not keep the fans waiting long, ending the match in the next game. The decisive set was won 6:2 and the Olympic champion advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open. There, in turn, a huge challenge awaits in the form of Aryna Sabalenka.