Rybakina Turns Around Zheng to Reach the US Open Semifinals

The headline result of the day came in New York, where Elena Rybakina beat Qinwen Zheng 3-6 6-1 6-4 in the women's quarterfinals. Zheng took the opening set and looked to have found the range on the hard court, but the match turned sharply in the second, which Rybakina claimed 6-1 with the kind of first-strike tennis that leaves an opponent no time to organise a rally. The decider was tighter — Zheng stayed within a break throughout — but Rybakina held her nerve to close it out 6-4 and book a place in the last four.

The pattern of the day, in fact, was resistance. On the clay of Montreux, Dalma Galfi survived the longest sequence of the afternoon, losing the opening set to Nuria Brancaccio 4-6 before responding with a 6-1 set and edging a decider that went all the way to a tie-break, 7-6. It was the sort of round-of-16 match that consumes far more than its scoreline suggests, and Galfi emerged from it as the day's most tested winner in Switzerland.

Elsewhere in Montreux the traffic moved more quickly. Clara Burel needed only 6-4 6-1 to see off Tessa Johanna Brockmann, while Anastasiia Sobolieva was the most emphatic performer of all, conceding just three games in a 6-0 6-3 win over Andrea Lazaro Garcia. In Antalya, Irene Burillo Escorihuela recovered from a set down to beat Miriam Bulgaru 4-6 6-3 6-2, and Aurora Zantedeschi followed the same script against Lina Gjorcheska, 4-6 6-3 6-1. Alevtina Ibragimova was cleaner in her progress, taking a tense first set from Leyre Romero Gormaz 7-5 before running away with the second 6-1, and Elizara Yaneva came through the day's tightest three-setter on Turkish clay, 6-3 3-6 6-4 against Zhibek Kulambayeva.

On the ATP side, Seville offered the most recognisable names. Sebastian Ofner was efficient and untroubled on serve in a 6-4 6-4 win over Alexander Ritschard, while Facundo Diaz Acosta raced through the first set against Alejandro Moro Canas and then had to work rather harder for the second, closing 6-1 7-5. In Genova, Pedro Martinez made the shortest work of anyone all day, dismissing Maximo Zeitune 6-2 6-1.

Tulln produced a mix of routine and grind. Vitaliy Sachko beat Marko Topo 6-2 6-4 and Zdenek Kolar handled Martin Krumich 6-2 6-4, but Alex Barrena needed three sets to subdue Nico Hipfl 6-2 6-7 6-3, and Matias Soto reset completely after losing the second set, blanking Marvin Moeller 6-0 in the decider after a 6-4 3-6 start.

The hard courts told a similar story. In Cassis, Titouan Droguet held off Gijs Brouwer 6-2 7-6, Daniel Masur turned a first-set deficit into a comprehensive win over Jurij Rodionov, 5-7 6-3 6-1, and Ugo Blanchet outlasted Daniel Rincon 6-3 3-6 6-3. In Istanbul, both Harold Mayot and Francesco Maestrelli dropped opening tie-breaks — to Gabi Adrian Boitan and Ayeni A. respectively — and both recovered in three, while Maks Kasnikowski and Dimitar Kuzmanov advanced in straight sets. Shanghai saw Marat Sharipov edge Taro Daniel 7-5 7-6, Pavel Kotov survive two tie-breaks against Delaney Ja., and Alexis Galarneau beat Linang Xiao 6-3 6-4.