China's Zheng Qinwen stuns Swiatek, reaches US Open quarterfinals

China's Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen said her peak is still to come after battling through a slump to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals on Monday.

Zheng staged another thrilling comeback from 5-0 down to beat eighth seed Iga Swiatek of Poland 7-5, 6-3 to secure a quarterfinal berth in the women's singles of U.S. Open on Monday.

In Saturday's previous round, Zheng had bounced back from 5-0 down in the deciding set to eliminate home player Madison Keys.

However, affected by injuries in recent years, Zheng is currently ranked 121st in women's singles.

In an interview with China Media Group (CMG), Zheng opened up about the pain of her comeback, describing months of repeated defeats and self-doubt. "I think the process of reinventing myself has been incredibly painful. Especially when I'm constantly facing defeat - it's not just one loss, but then you lose the next match too. You have to ask yourself, 'why aren't my efforts paying off?' And then go through it all over again. I feel like these past three or four months have been the worst stretch of my career in terms of results. Even when I talk to myself, I find it hard to believe. Why did this happen? Was it simply because I was injured for so long and hadn't touched a tennis racket, so my muscle memory - whatever it was - was taking so long to come back? Because this really was the longest period I've ever been away from tennis, even including when I was a kid. When I was injured before, the longest I went without playing was maybe a month. But this time, it was three or four months, maybe even five months, during which I barely touched a racket," she said.

"So, I often tell myself that this has been a process of rebirth. Even now, when I look back on it, I don't really want to recall that period, because whether it was my parents or the team around me, we all went through a lot of difficult conversations. That's why these recent victories are very important to me. They've been incredibly encouraging. People used to say that 2024 would be my peak, but I've always felt that I hadn't quite reached my peak by 2024 and I was cut short by injury. I believe my peak is still ahead of me," said Zheng.

Zheng will next face second seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned on Monday that if the United States targets Iran's oil and natural gas infrastructure, Iran will retaliate against U.S. energy assets in the Gulf region.

In a post on social media, Qalibaf said the oil and gas production chain in the Gulf region is sprawling, accessible, and exposed, adding that the U.S. oil and gas companies across these waters and facilities share that exposure.

"Strike our assets and you get struck. We've already proven it. Ask the bases that are no longer viable," said Qalibaf.

The warning follows a threat from U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who wrote on social media on Saturday that Iran's tanker fleet is "defenseless" and that U.S. forces will destroy Iranian tankers if Iran attacks U.S. ships.