Botic van de Zandschulp is branding his name on this US Open as a major seed slayer.
The Dutch qualifier has emerged as the hard to pronounce easy to root for Cinderella story of week one.
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Today, van de Zandschulp continued his wild run through Flushing Meadows defeating 11th-seeded Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 5-7, 6-1 securing his spot in history as just the third men's qualifier to reach the US Open quarterfinals.
Conquering both his nerve and the dogged determination of the 2020 Roland Garros semifinalist, van de Zandschulp is the first male qualifier to reach the US Open elite eight since Luxembourg left-hander Gilles Muller in 2008 and the third in the Open era alongside Frenchman Nicolas Escude, who did it in 1999.
"I think what I have done for me, it's amazing that I beat No. 11 here, especially in a match like this," van de Zandschulp said. "For me, it was the first time in the big stadium. The crowd was amazing here. The next match is maybe going to be on Arthur Ashe, I think. It's gonna be even more people there, so, yeah, I'm looking forward to it."
A 500 to 1 longshot to take the title before the tournament began, van de Zandschulp has played with poise and deep desire.
The world No. 117 won all six of his prior matches this week—three main draw and three qualifying matches—fighting back from a set down. In that run, he knocked off world No. 11 Casper Ruud for his biggest career win. Today, van de Zandschulp took it to Schwartzman becoming the first Dutchman since Sjeng Schalken in 2003 to reach the US Open quarterfinals.
In the first, second and fifth sets, van de Zandschulp hit Schwartzman right off the court in some key exchanges. The Dutchman drilled 55 winners on the day—25 more than the Argentinean.
"I think I was not hitting clean in the fifth. I was a little bit behind of the line," Schwartzman said. "He was playing more aggressive and more intelligent than me in the fifth. I was trying to put the ball, every ball, one more time on court because I was thinking, Okay, he came from the quallies, three rounds already.
"But he played a good match. I think today he deserved to win."
By the time his powerful four hour, 20-minute performance was down the Dutchman looked like the least surprised man in Armstrong Stadium. This wondrous run in his maiden US Open has rocketed the Dutchman to a career-high No. 62 in the live rankings. Van de Zandschulp said he's been building for this moment throughout this Slam season.
"I think for me first time for me this year is I qualified in Australia. In Roland Garros I made the second round, had some chances to go further there," van de Zandschulp said. "Yeah, at Wimbledon I made also second, but played Berrettini there so was a tough draw. Yeah, didn't really dream about it but I had the feeling it was possible if I would have won the second round, yeah, like here. I had the second round a tough match, then won it. Yeah, you can go further in the tournament."
Van de Zandschulp has made a name for himself with his inspired run and faces one of the biggest names in the game—world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev—for a place in the final four.
Medvedev, the 2019 Flushing Meadows runner-up, has not surrendered a set in four tournament victories. The Toronto champion has won 12 of his last 13 matches.
Photo credit: Brad Penner/USTA/US Open