Keys appeared on the right track for a primary fourth-round look at her residence slam since 2023 after taking a commanding third set lead towards Olympic champion Zheng.
However the 2025 Australian Open winner would miss a match level and lose every of the ultimate seven video games in a 1-6 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 loss that surprised the group.
The 31-year-old Keys mentioned she felt as if she “could not play tennis anymore” within the closing set.
“I clearly obtained off to a very good lead, after which I obtained actually scared, like I could not swing [the racquet],” Keys mentioned.
“I felt like I could not play tennis anymore. It simply felt prefer it was a a lot larger deal than simply enjoying a tennis match swiftly.”
Keys, who misplaced the 2017 US Open closing to fellow American Sloane Stephens, went out within the fourth spherical on the different three majors in 2026.
“I really feel like I have been struggling for some time now. I will need to make some kind of adjustments,” Keys mentioned.
“I simply type of maintain placing it off as a result of that is how the tennis world works. It is simply to the purpose the place I really must do one thing about it.”
Anisimova, overwhelmed by world primary Aryna Sabalenka in final 12 months’s US Open closing, misplaced in straight units to Russian-born Austrian twenty fourth seed Anastasia Potapova.
The 25-year-old was visibly pissed off with herself all through the competition, dropping her serve twice within the first set and 4 occasions in a topsy-turvy second.
