US Open: Another seed bites the dust as Zhang beats Ruud in five

Chinese Zhizhen Zhang beat Norwegian Casper Ruud, the No 5 seed, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 to advance to the third round of the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Wednesday night.

This match was the definition of a seesaw encounter, with neither player winning consecutive sets, and the margins bordering on the extreme in the final three sets.

At one stage, it looked as though Ruud was going to get the better of his No 67 ranked opponent, roaring back into the match with a 6-0 set in the fourth. However, no sooner had he levelled the match, than Ruud dropped serve in the opening game of the fifth set, and Zhang never looked back, becoming the first Chinese player to ever record a victory over a top five opponent.

Big serving Zhang overpowers Ruud

Zhang’s serve was a major key for the Chinese player in his success over Ruud, with the 26-year-old pounding down 18 aces across the five sets.

Despite playing 264 points over three hours, 19 minutes, Zhang only gave Ruud five looks at breaking his serve. Admittedly, the Norwegian capitalised on four of these, however it paled in comparison to the 17 break points that Ruud offered Zhang.

Zhang’s powerful groundstrokes were also a feature of the match, with 60 winners coming from his racquet, compared to only 39 from Ruud’s side.

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Zhang, ranked No 67, will face Australian wildcard Rinky Hijikata next, having won against American J.J. Wolf (7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 4-6, 6-3) in the first round.

In the previous round of the Flushing Meadows tournament, Ruud, ranked No 5, edged out American qualifier Emilio Nava (7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)).

New York (Grand Slam), other second-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 44.700.000, most recent results first):

• Daniil Medvedev vs. Christopher O’Connell
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Lloyd Harris
• Felipe Meligeni Alves vs. Sebastian Baez
• Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Daniel Evans
• Gael Monfils vs. Andrey Rublev
• Nicolas Jarry vs. Alex Michelsen
• Yibing Wu vs. Alex De Minaur
• Yu Hsiou Hsu vs. Cameron Norrie
• Arthur Fils vs. Matteo Arnaldi
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Stan Wawrinka
• Matteo Berrettini vs. Arthur Rinderknech
• Andy Murray vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Jack Draper vs. Hubert Hurkacz
• Michael Mmoh vs. John Isner
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Jannik Sinner
• Alexander Zverev vs. Daniel Altmaier
• Juan Pablo Varillas vs. Taylor Fritz: thursday
• Frances Tiafoe (10) beat Sebastian Ofner: 6-3, 6-1, 6-4
• Jakub Mensik (Q) beat Titouan Droguet (Q): 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (1), 6-3
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (21) beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo: 6-1, 6-4, 6-3
• Tommy Paul (14) beat Roman Safiullin: 3-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3
• Rinky Hijikata beat Marton Fucsovics: 6-1, 6-2, 6-1
• Ben Shelton beat Dominic Thiem: 7-6 (1), 1-0 ret.
• Adrian Mannarino (22) beat Fabian Marozsan: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-1
• Jiri Vesely beat Francisco Cerundolo (20): 7-6 (5), 6-2, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6 (6)
• Novak Djokovic (2) beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles: 6-4, 6-1, 6-1
• Benjamin Bonzi (WC) beat Christopher Eubanks (28): 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7)
• Aslan Karatsev beat Roberto Carballes Baena: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
• Laslo Djere (32) beat Hugo Gaston (Q): 6-1, 6-2, 6-3
• Borna Gojo (Q) beat Mackenzie McDonald: 6-3, 6-4, 6-4
• Dominic Stricker (Q) beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (7): 7-5, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-3