Alexander Zverev plays Botic van de Zandschulp on Arthur Ashe Stadium tonight for a place in the US Open semi-finals, and the two men arrive at the same door from opposite directions.
Zverev is the top seed, the French Open champion, and the player this draw has protected. Van de Zandschulp is ranked 70th in the world, has never won an ATP title in his career, and has just come through the fourth-longest match in the tournament's history. They have never played each other.
Zverev found his rhythm late
The German has spent 14 hours and 23 minutes on court in four rounds. Nine and a half of those came in the first two.
He needed four hours 53 minutes to beat Lorenzo Sonego in five sets, then four hours 33 minutes to beat Quentin Halys in five more. Neither performance looked like a man heading for a third consecutive Grand Slam final.
Then it changed. Alejandro Tabilo, the 25th seed, took two hours 26 minutes. Luciano Darderi, the 21st seed, took two hours 31: 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(3), with Zverev winning 86% of points behind his first serve, breaking four times and facing a single break point all night.
It was his 50th match win of 2026 and his fifth US Open quarter-final. According to Tennis Majors, he is the only man to reach the last eight at all four majors this year.
Van de Zandschulp has had the harder fortnight
The Dutchman's run is the better story. He beat Alex de Minaur, the sixth seed, in straight sets in the second round. He needed five sets and more than four hours to get past Zizou Bergs in the third.
Then he came from two sets down against the French lucky loser Arthur Gea, saved a match point in the third, and won 3-6, 6-7(0), 7-6(7), 7-6(3), 6-4 in five hours and 15 minutes.
"I think this is probably better than the first quarterfinal I made here," he said afterwards. He meant 2021, when he came through qualifying to reach the last eight and lost to Daniil Medvedev, who went on to win the title.
He is 30. He has been ranked as high as 22nd. His career singles record is 132-130. This is the second Grand Slam quarter-final of his life.
What is actually at stake
For Zverev, a great deal. He won Roland-Garros in June at the fourth attempt, after losing finals in New York, Paris and Melbourne, and reached the Wimbledon final a month later. Win tonight and he is one match from a third straight major final, in a draw where he has not yet met a player ranked inside the top 20.
For van de Zandschulp, everything and nothing. He has one day of rest, nine hours of five-set tennis in his legs from his last two matches, and no expectation from anyone outside his own box.
That is usually a losing position. It is also the only kind of position from which this tournament ever produces a surprise.