The ITF's Katrina Adams stays on the front lines for women with the Tory Burch Foundation Sports Fellowship

Dutch qualifier Botic Van de Zandschulp posted a gritty 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1 victory over No. 11 seed Diego Schwartzman to advance into his first major quarterfinal. Van de Zandschulp has won seven consecutive matches, though Sunday marked the first time in his Flushing Meadows debut that he claimed the opening set.

“I played so many matches here, some of them I was on the brink of defeat, and for the first time in the tournament I have won the first set. "The first two I almost ended up losing the match, but I am glad I won in the end," he said during his on-court interview.

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The qualifier is a quarterfinalist.

Botic van de Zandschulp saw a two-set lead and multiple match points come and go against 11th seed Diego Schwartzman.

But the Dutchman did it in the end, 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1.#USOpen Live Blog: https://t.co/hlLbUbSkHk pic.twitter.com/SeX8P6aiUW
— TENNIS (@Tennis) September 5, 2021

This is the 25-year-old's ninth season as a professional, and coming into the US Open, Van de Zandschulp held just five ATP Tour-level wins. He's made noticeable progress on the major stage this year, reaching the second round at Roland Garros (qualified) and Wimbledon (lucky loser).

Against Schwartzman, the world No. 117' saw a 4-2 lead in the third set disappear and two match points in the fourth set go by. But he stepped up in their decider by claiming more than double the points of Schwartzman to prevail after four hours and 20 minutes.

From here, it won't get any easier for Van de Zandschulp; he gets world No. 2 and 2019 US Open finalist Daniil Medvedev on Tuesday,

Van de Zandschulp has spent roughly 12 hours more on court than Medvedev. The Russian has yet to drop a set en route to the final eight, but if observers have learned anything this tournament, all bets are off.

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Baseline

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Player of the Day: Botic van de Zandschulp

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