![](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/static-assets\/images\/newsletter\/sport\/sport-135x135.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova moved a step closer to back-to-back grand slam titles by beating Peyton Stearns to reach the US Open quarter-finals.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old Czech, seeded ninth here two months after becoming the first unseeded woman to win at SW19, fell a set behind to Stearns.<\/p>\n
But the American youngster, whose powerful forehand accounted for Britain\u2019s Katie Boulter in round three, won just five more games as Vondrousova triumphed 6-7 (3) 6-3 6-2.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was playing great from the beginning and I just tried to stay in the game,\u201d said Vondrousova.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2022\/11\/30\/15\/GettyImages-1388382959%20copy.jpg\")
\n![](\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2022\/12\/01\/03\/GettyImages-1245251240.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is a very dangerous player, she has a great future ahead of her and it was a very tough match.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy. I didn\u2019t expect this, after Wimbledon there was a lot of pressure but I\u2019m feeling good and we\u2019ll see what happens next.\u201d<\/p>\n
What happens next is a meeting with Madison Keys, a former Flushing Meadows runner-up who sprung a mild surprise against fellow American Jessica Pegula, the third seed.<\/p>\n
Keys, seeded 17, is emulating the form which swept her to the final in 2017 and sunk the highly-fancied Pegula 6-1 6-3.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old said: \u201cIt\u2019s always tough having to play a friend but we\u2019ve been doing it all our lives. On court it\u2019s all business but then we go back to being friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Iga Swiatek\u2019s surprise defeat on Sunday night means there will be a new women\u2019s champion this year.<\/p>\n
But it will not be last year\u2019s runner-up Ons Jabeur after the fifth seed, who has struggled physically all week, bowed out 6-2 6-4 to China\u2019s Qinwen Zheng.<\/p>\n