Chinese qualifier Zhizhen Zhang upset last year’s US Open runner-up and fifth seed Casper Ruud 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 on Wednesday night to reach the third round at Flushing Meadows.
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Zhang, 26, is the first Chinese man to defeat an ATP top-five player since 1973, when the rankings were introduced.
With No. 4 seed Holger Rune and Ruud both out, it marks the first time since 2006 that multiple men seeded in the top five lost before the third round of a US Open. In 2006, 3-seed Ivan Ljubičić lost in the first round, while No. 4 David Nalbandian was knocked out in the second.
Ruud, who lost to Carlos Alcaraz in last year’s final in New York and also was the runner-up at the French Open in 2022 and 2023, is the first US Open finalist to lose in the first two rounds of the following year’s tournament since Kei Nishikori, who lost in the first round in 2015 after finishing runner-up to Marin Cilic in 2014.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.