U.S. Open Day 7: Gauff, Zheng and the Underrated Comebacks

People worship the commentary of legends; I see a wrong number. Back in May, Iva Jovic took the first set from Coco Gauff, let the second slip away, then faded in the third. Today she returns to the main court in the U.S. Open fourth round, this time as a real opponent, no longer a side note. The context of Monday is not limited to one name. Coco Gauff faces Iva Jovic, Naomi Osaka meets Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek rematches Zheng Qinwen, and Alexander Zverev must learn from Luciano Darderi. Every pairing carries its own story, but people tend to remember only familiar names and forget that women’s tennis is producing some of the most unlikely scripts. Gauff said she hit a flow state after beating Cristina Bucsa in the third round. Her story is not just three straight wins without dropping a set. What I noticed is how she changed her serve. A player once criticized for being too defensive can now end points with an ace. Her win over Jovic in May was a reminder that any match can flip if the opponent believes in herself. Gauff herself said: “At the end of the day, anybody can lose… it makes me have my guard up all the time, which makes me play better.” I do not write about how they win; I write about what they changed in order to win. Zheng Qinwen understands that better than anyone. She just went through elbow surgery in July 2026, battling fitness and form for months. In the third round, she trailed Madison Keys 5-0 in the third set, faced match point, then won seven straight games to complete one of the tournament’s greatest comebacks. These numbers are not in the organisers’ script, but they are what fans will remember. On the other side, Iga Swiatek holds a dominant head-to-head record over Zheng with seven wins in eight meetings. Yet her only loss came at the Paris Olympics, where Zheng eliminated her on clay, Swiatek’s favorite surface. That was not an accident. Zheng has decoded how Swiatek shifts rhythm. In the previous round, Swiatek looked shaky as Marie Bouzkova forced two tiebreaks. If Zheng maintains the resilience she showed against Keys, she has every reason to believe in another upset. Naomi Osaka is another test. Her opponent is Elena Rybakina, the second seed with one of the most dangerous serves in the draw. Osaka has won Grand Slams before, but returning after a long absence is never easy. This match will be decided by return. If Osaka allows Rybakina to produce too many free points on serve, she will never have a chance to break. But if she can attack the second serve, the dynamic could shift completely. Even the men’s side shows how fragile reputations can be. Zverev survived two five-set battles before beating Alejandro Tabilo in a tight second-set tiebreak in the third round. But history is not on his side. In May in Rome, Luciano Darderi saved four match points before beating Zverev. That is the kind of detail people forget during transfer gossip or before a Grand Slam, but it proves that modern tennis has no room for complacency. The media likes to relegate women’s sports to a secondary stream, but Monday’s data tells the opposite story. Zheng just returned from surgery, saved a match point, and won seven straight games. Gauff is serving better than ever. Osaka is facing the second seed in a match that could redefine her season. If these are not the must-watch matches, I do not know what is. Every female athlete I write about has a number she does not want to look at, and I bring her back to look at it. Zheng does not want to remember being down 5-0, but that moment created her comeback. Gauff does not want to remember previous fourth-round exits, but they forced her to change her serve. I believe that when locker rooms are no longer closed, when the schedule no longer separates by gender, stories like Jovic’s will be told fully. Monday at the U.S. Open is exactly the answer. Fans may come for Gauff, but they will stay for Jovic. They may mention Swiatek as a legend, but they will have to mention Zheng as a phenomenon. I go back to the spreadsheet and see one thing: there was a time when women had to wait for the schedule. Now they are the schedule.