Michael Zheng spent years making the lengthy trek from northern New Jersey, first by bus throughout the Hudson River to the Port Authority bus terminal after which practically the full size of the No 7 subway line, all for the chance to coach at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. On a rainswept Wednesday afternoon in Queens, the vacation spot was the identical however the function had modified fully.
The 22-year-old American wildcard and two-time NCAA champion from close by Columbia University brushed apart Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to win his rain-delayed US Open debut, offering one of many extra unlikely highlights on a busy day for the house contingent in New York.
Playing earlier than a vocal crowd of his school teammates and alumni who splashed the intimate confines of Court 10 with blue and white, Zheng wanted solely 1hr 51min to dispatch of the world No 63, breaking 5 occasions and dropping serve solely as soon as. He hit practically twice as many winners (33) as unforced errors (17) and was particularly ruthless on his first serve, profitable all however three of 39 factors (92.3%) over three units.
“It just felt like a college tennis match, really,” Zheng stated. “My teammates came out. They had the ‘Let’s go, Michael’ chants, and I’m not sure my opponent was ready for it.”
He added: “This is a place I grew up training. It was one of the first places that I kind of called home base, actually, the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. So it’s really special to get that first main-draw win here and in front of my family, friends and teammates as well.”
Long earlier than Wednesday’s win, Zheng was a 10-year-old making the roughly two-hour commute from his house in Montville, New Jersey, a number of occasions per week to chop his enamel at the nationwide middle. His mom would accumulate him from college and drop him at a close-by bus cease, leaving him to journey alone by Manhattan into Queens to apply on the blue courts within the shadows of Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong stadiums.
The years since have introduced good-looking returns. Zheng, whose mother and father emigrated from China, turned the primary Columbia student-athlete since 1906 to win the NCAA singles championship in 2024, then turned the primary man in 13 years to efficiently defend the title final November.
His breakthrough on the skilled tour rapidly adopted. Zheng started this 12 months by qualifying for his first grand slam important draw at the Australian Open and beating Sebastian Korda over 5 units within the opening spherical for his first tour-level victory. He adopted that with one other qualifying run into the French Open earlier than reaching the third spherical at Wimbledon, seeing off British No 1 Cameron Norrie alongside the way in which. Somewhere in between, Zheng discovered time to graduate from Columbia with a level in psychology.
“If you told me at the end of last year that I would play the main draw at all four slams, I probably wouldn’t believe whoever told me that,” he stated. “I think qualifying for the first time at a slam just gives you that confidence that you can do it again.”
Wednesday marked one other milestone in what’s been a exceptional rise from Ivy League tennis to the grand slam stage. The consequence lifted Zheng, who entered the match ranked 107th, to No 96 within the dwell rankings and into the highest 100 for the primary time.
“It’s kind of that benchmark, I would say, that players who want to play professionally have,” stated Zheng, whose rating sat exterior the highest 700 little greater than a 12 months in the past. “You break the top 100, you can make a living playing tennis now. So it’s definitely really special.”
With rain having pushed his first-round match again a day, Zheng could have little time to have fun. He returns on Thursday afternoon to face Yunchaokete Bu, the Chinese fortunate loser ranked 124th, who surprised rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 in probably the most lopsided scorelines of the match thus far.
If Zheng provided Wednesday’s homegrown shock, Ben Shelton supplied the star energy. The highest-ranked American within the males’s draw survived his first severe examination of the fortnight with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 7-5 win over Hubert Hurkacz beneath the closed roof on Ashe.
The eighth-seeded Shelton wanted practically three hours to tame the previous world No 6 in a match that includes two of the game’s most formidable serves. After splitting the primary two units, the 23-year-old American seized management through the third-set tie-break, racing to a 3-0 lead earlier than closing it out 7-3.
Hurkacz threatened to drive a decider when he earned two break factors with Shelton serving at 4-all within the fourth, however Shelton escaped and shortly turned the strain again on his opponent. With Hurkacz serving at 5-6, Shelton pounded away together with his forehand till the Pole sprayed one closing forehand broad.
Shelton flexed each arms and roared towards the stands after finishing a victory that despatched him into the spherical of 32 for a fourth straight 12 months in New York.
“I was super excited to get through that one and relieved obviously, because I thought he was serving lights out, moving well, not making errors from the baseline, and it was a tall task today,” Shelton stated. “I’m kind of just running my own race and focusing on the next round.”
Shelton, a semi-finalist right here three years in the past, arrived in New York fresh off the Montreal title and with maybe his greatest likelihood but at turning into the primary American man to win a significant singles championship since Andy Roddick at the 2003 US Open.
Another aspirant to finish that 23-year wait is Eleventh-seeded Frances Tiafoe, who defeated Japanese qualifier Rei Sakamoto 6-3, 7-6 (2), 7-5 to achieve the third spherical for a seventh straight 12 months, the longest lively streak amongst males. The 28-year-old made solely 18 unforced errors to Sakamoto’s 40, whereas dropping serve solely twice within the 2hr 40min match.
Jessica Pegula made significantly shorter work of her all-American encounter on Ashe, bundling out former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin 6-3, 6-1 in solely 56 minutes. The third seed raced away with the ultimate seven video games to progress into the third spherical, the place she’s going to face Canada’s Leylah Annie Fernandez.
On the Grandstand courtroom, Alex Michelsen took out the Sixteenth-seeded Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in one other all-American tie, whereas Emma Navarro fought again from a set all the way down to defeat Caty McNally 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. Tommy Paul additionally progressed there within the night time session, overcoming a third-set wobble to beat Croatia’s Dino Prizmic 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in simply over three hours.
Taylor Townsend was among the many day’s most emphatic American winners, trouncing Australia’s Taylah Preston 6-1, 6-1 to e book a third-round date with French Open semi-finalist Diana Shnaider. Teenager Iva Jovic additionally went by, defeating Poland’s Magdalena Frech 7-5, 6-3, whereas Zachary Svajda beat Germany’s Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-2.
There was disappointment for Sloane Stephens, the 2017 champion, who was crushed 6-1, 7-5 by Eleventh-seeded Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine. The 33-year-old supplied much more resistance after being overwhelmed within the opening set, reaching set level within the second however failing to transform it and drive a decider.
Also on Armstrong, Sebastian Gorzny’s debut US Open look got here to an finish in opposition to Daniil Medvedev. The 20-year-old wildcard was crushed 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 by the 2021 champion, though he pushed Medvedev all through a aggressive third set earlier than the Russian lastly broke by late.
Elsewhere on the outer courts, Marcos Giron was edged by Peru’s Ignacio Buse 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-1, whereas Ann Li rallied to win 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-4 over Donna Vekic.