Qinwen Zheng vs Kristina Liutova — 4-6 6-3 6-1

Result

The US Open's own app made the 16-year-old the favourite, 59-41, and for a set it was right. Neither player held in the first three games; Liutova broke for 5-2, was pegged back to 5-4, then saved two break points from 15-40 and won four straight to take it 6-4. Zheng's answer was her serve — a first-serve rate of 46% across the match, but eighteen percentage points better in the second set than the first, and 75% of the first serves she did land won. Ten aces to one, 33 winners to 15, six breaks from sixteen chances, 93 points to 75 in 2 hours 28 minutes on Court 17. Zheng had come through qualifying for only the second time in her career, ill since its second round and playing on cold medicine. Liutova, unranked eighteen months ago and 36-4 for the year, was in tears at the end. “Congratulations first to the opponent, because she's only 16 years old,” Zheng said on court. “She played incredible tennis. It was not easy for me.”

Qinwen Zheng

Kristina Liutova

10Aces1

6Double faults5

46%1st serve in68%

75%1st-serve points won59%

52%2nd-serve points won34%

113 mphFastest serve107 mph

6/16Break points won3/4

33Winners15

27Unforced errors22

8/9Net points won4/6

93Total points won75

2135.6 mDistance run2026.3 m

Rows the source hadn’t published are left off rather than guessed.

At this Stage

The Round of 128 is the widest the net ever gets: 64 matches a draw, spread across three days, every seed in action and every qualifier playing the biggest match of the year. This half of the bracket filled in late — qualifying ran a day long after rain pushed the last round to Friday, so these names were still blank slots on draw night. First-round losers leave with $140,000. The winner draws Putintseva or Bencic in the Round of 64.

Qinwen Zheng✓

Kristina Liutova

Aug 30–Sep 1

4-6 6-3 6-1

Belinda Bencic

Yulia Putintseva✓

Aug 30–Sep 1

4-6 7-5 6-3

Qinwen Zheng✓

Yulia Putintseva

Sep 2–3

6-4 2-6 6-1

Round of 128

Qinwen Zheng✓

Kristina Liutova

Aug 30–Sep 1

4-6 6-3 6-1

Belinda Bencic

Yulia Putintseva✓

Aug 30–Sep 1

4-6 7-5 6-3

Round of 64

Qinwen Zheng✓

Yulia Putintseva

Sep 2–3

6-4 2-6 6-1

What we know now

What I said beforehand

The preview, frozen before the first serve. Clearly dated, never rewritten — that's the deal that makes the pick worth anything.

The best match in this batch, and both players had to qualify to be in it. Zheng is 23, a US Open quarter-finalist in 2024 and 99–53 on hard courts for her career, but ranked 121st after an 11–12 season. Liutova is 16 years old, ranked 125th, and 6–0 at tour level — an unbeaten record with no losses to interpret. Their hard-court Elos are 24 points apart. Experience against an unknown quantity who has not lost a professional match yet: Zheng in three, and it should be worth the ticket.

Both cases written 2026-08-29, before the first ball — frozen into the record exactly as written, whatever the result. The percentages are mine — opinions with a percent sign on. They add to 100 because tennis has no draw to hide the rounding in.

Tale of the tape

Qinwen ZhengKristina Liutova

0Career head-to-head0

23Age16

5′10″ (1.78 m)Height—

Right-handedPlays—

No. 121RankingNo. 125

16–132026 win–loss6–0

104–54Career on hard courts6–0

0Grand Slam titles0

QF (2024)Best at the US OpenFirst appearance

Player vitals: US Open official player feed (usopen.org) and Tennis Abstract career match logs · as of 2026-08-28.

Career head-to-head: Tennis Abstract career match logs (tour-level) · as of 2026-08-28.