Tempers had flared on the Grandstand court after Ruud raced through the fourth set to level the match, with Zhang taking a lengthy toilet break and changing clothes. The Norwegian fifth seed felt it was a bid by his opponent to disrupt his momentum.
“Why don’t you do anything?” Ruud yelled to the umpire. “You follow the rules clearly sometimes, then other times you don’t give a s***. Why don’t you do anything?”
Ruud was immediately broken in the first game of the fifth set and again complained to the chair umpire, accusing him of failing to enforce time limits.
Zhang broke again in the fifth game of the decider to take a 4-1 lead before holding his nerve to set up a clash with Australia’s Rinky Hijikata on Friday, as he bids to reach the last 16 of a major for the first time.
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It was his second five-set victory to open this tournament after he lost his first four five-setters. He was not discouraged by those previous losses, with the breakthrough finally coming on Monday when he outlasted JJ Wolf in four and a half hours.
“I believed in myself. If not, the fifth set was going to be a different result,” Zhang told reporters. “I was a little bit tired for a few days already. I had some sort of pain. I didn’t spend so much energy. I tried to be calm for the whole match.
“At the end of the match, finished the last point, I didn’t really celebrate like, not super happy. But I was happy inside, it just didn’t show.”
The 26-year-old Zhang reached the third round of the French Open in June before falling to Ruud, who had been to the finals in three of the last six grand slam events.
“I mean, I’m not sitting here super disappointed with things that I could have done better or my level, but at the most important moments he was the better player. He stepped up,” Ruud said.
“That was different from Paris. I think in Paris I was the one who really stepped up when I had to. It’s a different surface, of course. But he has a great serve, beautiful backhand, and forehand, also. When it’s on, it’s on and really dangerous.”
Zhang is not the only Chinese player to make it through to the third round at Flushing Meadows, with Wang Xinyu moving on in the women’s singles draw by beating Sara Sorribes Tormo in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
She will play world No 64 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia next, with compatriot Wang Yafan up in second-round action against Katie Boulter of the United Kingdom on Thursday morning local time.
China’s Zhu Lin also beat No 18 seed and former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-3 to book a third-round clash with Swiss 15th seed Belinda Bencic. But Wang Xiyu fell to American Bernarda Pera, losing 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.
Earlier, Novak Djokovic sailed into the third round in his quest for a 24th grand slam triumph as Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff stayed on a quarter-final collision course in New York.
Djokovic climbed through the gears against 76th-ranked Bernabe Zapata Miralles, winning 13 of the last 15 games to ease through 6-4, 6-1, 6-1 in two hours on Arthur Ashe Stadium court.
Next up for the Serbian star is compatriot and 32nd seed Laslo Djere, with Djokovic keeping up his record of always reaching at least the last 32 in New York.
“At 36 years of age, after 20 years of coming to New York, I still have the hunger to play my best tennis on this court,” said Djokovic, a three-time US Open champion.
“I have the experience and understanding of what needs to be done in the important moments. Preserving the energy and focusing on the present moment.”
Defending champion and women’s world No 1 Swiatek swept past Australia’s Daria Saville 6-3, 6-4.
The Pole is bidding to become the first woman to successfully defend her US Open crown since Serena Williams won a hat-trick of titles from 2012-2014.
“It wasn’t easy but I’m happy I tried to play my game and play aggressively with a lot of intensity and I’m just happy to be in the third round,” said Swiatek, aiming for her fifth grand slam triumph.
Swiatek will now play Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan on Friday for a place in the last 16.
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