Botic van de Zandschulp Advances to US Open Quarterfinals After Epic Five-Set Match
Botic van de Zandschulp walked into the New York night looking exhausted, defiant and very much alive in this US Open.
Down two sets. Facing match point. Five hours and 13 minutes on court. The Dutchman somehow turned all of that into a place in the quarterfinals, outlasting Frenchman Arthur Gea in one of the longest matches in tournament history.
The final scoreline – 3:6, 6:7 (0), 7:6 (7), 7:6 (3), 6:4 – barely captures the chaos.
From the brink to the last eight
For two sets, this looked like a straight-sets exit. Van de Zandschulp, 30, never settled in the opener, dropping it 3:6. Gea, swinging freely and riding the momentum of his improbable run as a lucky loser, tightened his grip in the second-set tiebreak, sweeping it 7–0.
The Dutchman stared at the scoreboard and saw the story everyone else did: two sets down, opponent in full flow, body under strain.
Then came the moment that changed everything.
In the third-set tiebreak, Gea held a match point. One clean strike from becoming the first lucky loser ever to reach a men’s singles quarterfinal at a Grand Slam. Van de Zandschulp refused to let it happen. He saved it, stole the breaker 9–7, and with it cracked open the match.
The pressure finally told on Gea. Van de Zandschulp edged another tiebreak in the fourth, 7–3, dragging the contest into a deciding set as the clock kept climbing and the atmosphere thickened.
By the fifth, legs were heavy, rallies shorter, decisions sharper. Van de Zandschulp found just enough first serves, just enough depth, just enough belief. A single break, held with grim determination, carried him over the line 6:4.
It was his second career appearance in the US Open quarterfinals, three years after his breakthrough run in 2021. Earlier this tournament, he had already posted a statement win over Australian Alex de Minaur in the second round. This, though, was something different: survival as much as tennis.
Gea’s run ends just short of history
Gea’s story had been one of the week’s most unlikely.
He only entered the main draw as a lucky loser after 2022 US Open finalist Casper Ruud withdrew with a back injury. Thrust into the spotlight, the Frenchman played with nothing to lose and nearly rewrote the record books.
One point. That was the distance between Gea and a place in history as the first lucky loser to reach a Grand Slam men’s singles quarterfinal. Instead, his campaign ends with a marathon defeat, but also with a performance that will linger.
Blockx makes Belgian history, Khachanov grinds through
Elsewhere in the men’s draw, Alexander Blockx carved out his own slice of history.
Seeded 28th, the Belgian battled past 24th seed Francisco Cerundolo 6:3, 4:6, 7:5, 7:5 to become the first player from Belgium ever to reach the US Open quarterfinals. He held his nerve in two tight closing sets, breaking late in each to shut the door on the Argentine.
On the other side of that quarterfinal stands Karen Khachanov, who needed five sets of his own to get through.
The Russian overcame 14th-seeded American Learner Tien 7:5, 4:6, 6:7 (6), 6:1, 6:4, wrestling back control after dropping a tense third-set tiebreak. Once he surged through the fourth set 6:1, the pattern was set; Khachanov’s weight of shot and experience carried him through the decider.
Blockx and Khachanov now collide for a place in the semifinals.
Van de Zandschulp, meanwhile, walks into his second US Open quarterfinal knowing he has already stared down the edge of the cliff and stepped back. After a night like this, who will fancy facing him next?
