Zheng defeats Jabeur to reach U.S. Open quarterfinals, Canada's Dabrowski advances

Zheng Qinwen routed last year's U.S. Open runner-up Ons Jabeur 6-2, 6-4 on Monday to move into the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows for her deepest run ever in a Grand Slam tournament.

Zheng, who is seeded No. 23, becomes the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open since Wang Qiang in 2019. She did it by overpowering the fifth-seeded Tunisian with an aggressive baseline game that produced 21 winners.

For Jabeur, who committed 33 unforced errors and has appeared ill at times during her U.S. Open run, it was a disappointing finish after reaching the finals of three of the last five Grand Slam events, including the last two Wimbledons.

Zheng's win mean three of last year's four U.S. Open singles finalists are gone, leaving only second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, a Belarussian who will take over the No. 1 spot in the WTA rankings because of the fourth-round loss by No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek.

Zheng will play the winner of the match later between Sabalenka and No. 13 Daria Kasatkina. That will give Zheng the chance to play for more history — to equal the best runs ever by Chinese players at the U.S. Open, semifinals appearances by Peng Shuai in 2014 and Li Na in 2013.

Alcaraz advaces over Arnaldi

Earlier, Carlos Alcaraz had little trouble beating unseeded Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals, the third time in as many appearances he's gotten at least that far at Flushing Meadows.

By advancing to the round of eight, the 20-year-old Spaniard became the youngest player to reach three U.S. Open quarterfinals in the open era that dates to 1968 and the only player other than Andre Agassi to do so before turning 21.

Alcaraz next No. 12-seeded Alexander Zverev, who outlasted No. 6-seeded Jannik Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in a night match that lasted 4 hours, 41 minutes and ended early Tuesday morning.

A fan was ejected in the fourth set after Zverev complained to the chair umpire that the man used language from Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime. Zverev said after the match the spectator was singing Hitler's anthem.

"I love when fans are loud, I love when fans are emotional," Zverev said. "But I think me being German and not really proud of that history, it's not really a great thing to do and I think him sitting in one of the front rows, I think a lot of people heard it. So if I just don't react, I think it's bad from my side."

The 2021 champion, Danill Medvedev, and No. 8 Andrey Rublev will face off in an all-Russian quarterfinal. Rublev beat Jack Draper 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the afternoon, and Medvedev got past No. 13 Alex de Minaur 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 at night.

Keys overpowers Pegula

Earlier, Madison Keys overpowered fellow American Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour to book her spot in the quarterfinals.

For Pegula, it marked yet another Grand Slam disappointment. She has advanced to the quarterfinals in each major tournament but has yet to reach the final four.

Keys' quarterfinals opponent will be ninth-seeded Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, who came back to beat unseeded American Peyton Stearns 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 to keep her dream alive of a second straight Grand Slam title after winning Wimbledon.

"I actually didn't expect it after Wimby, there was a lot of pressure," Vondrousova said in her postmatch interview. "Let's see what happens next."

Canada's Dabrowski advances with Routliffe in walkover

Ottawa's Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe of New Zealand advanced to the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Monday.

Dabrowski and Routliffe were coming off a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Zhu Lin of China and Fang-Hsien Wu of Taiwan on Saturday.

They will next face Leylah Fernandez of Laval, Que., and Taylor Townsend of the U.S. on Tuesday.