Botic van de Zandschulp comes from two sets down to get past Arthur Gea

[p]The Dutch veteran denied 21-year-old [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gea-arthur/M5Nr6FTR/"]Gea[/a] a slice of Grand Slam history. The French player had been vying to become the first men's lucky loser to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final.[/p][p]A dozen lucky losers - players who lost in qualifying but made it into the draw when someone withdrew - had made it to the round of 16 at this level, but none had gone further.[/p][p]Gea, ranked 87th in the world, lost in the final round of qualifying but reached the main draw when 18th-seeded [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ruud-casper/zN9UpRqp/"]Casper Ruud[/a] withdrew with a back injury.[/p][p]He nearly broke through, but the Netherlands' [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/van-de-zandschulp-botic/YwiLpILD/"]van de Zandschulp[/a] [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/gea-a-M5Nr6FTR/van-de-zandschulp-b-YwiLpILD/?mid=ngNeumat"]saved a match point in the third set[/a] and almost two hours later sealed a win that put him into the quarter-finals for the first time since 2021.[/p][image alt="Match stats: Gea vs van de Zandschulp" id="e481b71c-3b09-4a38-8267-bc31b6a96b65" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="fe57b2ed-cf8b-45df-9b5c-016d10f96848" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]The five-hour, 13-minute marathon was just shy of the record-longest US Open match, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/evans-daniel/Ya9jkSU5/"]Dan Evans[/a]'s five-hour, 35-minute first-round victory over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/khachanov-karen/4bNPtZT5/"]Karen Khachanov[/a] in 2024.[/p][p]An exhausted van de Zandschulp told the crowd he didn't know how he did it.[/p][p]"[b]No clue actually,[/b]" the 30-year-old said. "[b]Crazy comeback - five hours, 15 minutes, still standing, so that's a good thing.[/b][/p][p]"[b]I think this is probably even better than the first quarter-final I made here[/b]," added van de Zandschulp. “[b]It's been some tough years, but started to play better this year again.[/b][/p][p]"[b]It hasn't really sunk in yet, but I think tomorrow it's going to be a great feeling.[/b]"[/p][p]Next up for van de Zandschulp could be top-seeded [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/zverev-alexander/dGbUhw9m/"]Alexander Zverev[/a].[/p][p]The Dutch player has some history with upsets at the US Open. In 2024 he stunned then third-seeded [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/alcaraz-garfia-carlos/UkhgIFEq/"]Carlos Alcaraz[/a] in straight sets in the second round.[/p]