Tennis
2026-09-09 - Qinwen Zheng vs Elena Rybakina
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : US Open Tennis Quarter Final
Wednesday 9th September 2026 - Scheduled 11:30am EST
4:30pm (British Time)
Preview
Fifteen months ago, Qinwen Zheng was the World Number 4 and the young player looked like being the next first time Grand Slam Winner on the WTA Tour.
Injuries have blighted her progress over that time period since entering the top five and that meant Qinwen Zheng entered the US Open as the World Number 121. She could not use a Protected Ranking after rushing back in 2025 to try and take part in Beijing, and that has meant entering the Qualifiers here at the US Open.
Three matches were won to reach the main draw, but Qinwen Zheng has used that momentum to move through the draw with some stunning wins already behind her. Beating Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek would have been considerable achievements anyway, but doing so having recovered from huge deficits within sets played has only added to the sporting drama.
Qinwen Zheng is a confident player and she cannot be dismissed as a threat to win it all from here.
The 23 year old has always been comfortable on the hard courts and she will take added confidence from the fact she has pushed Elena Rybakina twice this season, even if she ultimately did come up short both times.
There is a huge carrot at the end of this Quarter Final match for Elena Rybakina- a win here and she will be guaranteed to become the new World Number 1, although it still feels a matter of time before she reaches the summit of the WTA Rankings. The World Number 2 has clearly been able to focus on the matches as they have come up at the US Open and Elena Rybakina has shown how capable she is of backing up the Australian Open success by picking up another hard court Grand Slam here in New York City.
Winning the Grand Slam will feel more important than the World Ranking and Elena Rybakina showed against Naomi Osaka how effective she can be against some of the other big hitters on the Tour. The serve is a key weapon to create scoreboard pressure and Rybakina has heavy groundstrokes that can push any opponent back behind the baseline, including Qinwen Zheng.
The latter looked to be running close to empty in the gas tank before rallying for a good win over Iga Swiatek in the Fourth Round, but this is another big test for Qinwen Zheng.
She has shown she can stand up to Elena Rybakina, but the amount of tennis that has been played over the last several days cannot be ignored and the higher Ranked player may end up showing off a superior serve, which can pave the way for a place in the Semi Final.
Prediction
Lay the games with the current World Number 2 who is a win away from taking over top spot in the World Rankings.
The Pick :
Qinwen Zheng 0-2 Elena Rybakina
