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Sinner Survives Scare To Set Monfils Showdown

  • Posted: Sep 03, 2021

World No. 16 Jannik Sinner has set an entertaining US Open third-round showdown with French shotmaker Gael Monfils after weathering an unexpected challenge from 18-year-old American wild card Zachary Svajda at Flushing Meadows on Friday night.

The 20-year-old Italian, who is in strong contention to make a dream debut at the Nitto ATP Finals on home soil in Turin this November, survived a tense third-set tie-break against the World No. 716 before clinching a decisive break in the ninth game of the fourth set to set up the 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-7(6), 6-4 victory.

Sinner seeks his second appearance in the second week of a Grand Slam this year following his run to the fourth round of Roland Garros. A champion at last month’s ATP 500 in Washington, D.C., Sinner had not survived the first round of the US Open in two prior appearances.

“Today was for sure not easy. I didn’t [know] my opponent,” Sinner said. “I tried to stick to my game plan. The first set worked well. The second set was a little bit a roller coaster. I was down 5-2, and I managed somehow to break him when he was serving for the set. The tie-break, I played well. The third set went in his way.

“So the level today, I think it was quite high to be honest. He didn’t miss many balls,” Sinner added. “I tried to play my game. Sometimes I had to go more forward, which I didn’t do today, so I was a little bit struggling… At the end I’m very happy about my performance.”

Sinner will now face World No. 20 Monfils, who edged American Steve Johnson 7-5, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Monfils fired 15 aces and won 25 of 31 points at the net. Sinner and Monfils are tied at 1-1 in their ATP Head2Head series.

“It was a tough match,” Monfils said of his win. “Against Stevie is always an interesting match… I felt Stevie was slicing great the ball with the backhand… I had to put up I think a great skill to beat him, serving good, great defence, returning not bad actually, and a bit of luck to win this one.”

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#NextGenATP American Brooksby Downs Fritz In New York

  • Posted: Sep 03, 2021

#NextGenATP American Jenson Brooksby upstaged fellow Californian Taylor Fritz to reach the third round at a Grand Slam for the first time at Flushing Meadows on Thursday night. The 20-year-old further cemented his name as one of the best current US prospects with a 6-7(7), 7-6(10), 7-5, 6-2 victory over the World No. 42 on Grandstand after four hours and six minutes.

Sixth in the ATP Race to Milan, Brooksby’s 33 winners were 26 fewer than his opponent’s, but his 48 unforced errors paled in comparison to Fritz’s 74. Serving at 4-5, 15-15 in the third set, Brooksby showed great variety to pull off the shot of the match when he dragged Fritz in on a deft backhand drop shot before he flicked the forehand winner around the net post.

It proved pivotal as he went on to claim five straight games, including a crucial break to open the fourth set. Nerves came into play as Brooksby served for the match, but he finally sealed his place in the third round on his seventh match point.

“I’m feeling great to get through that one. There were a lot of different things that run through the mind, during the match and after. But I was proud within myself,” Brooksby said. “After a tough first set I was a little more down on myself and was able to switch it around and stay focused on what’s in my control. It definitely showed in being able to turn that around today, so I’m happy with my growth mentally, and also my game today.

“It’s really exciting. That’s what you do all the training for. Those are the moments to enjoy the most… a place like the US Open, my home Grand Slam, it doesn’t get more exciting than that. I loved that atmosphere.”

The younger of the two Americans was outside the Top 200 in the FedEx ATP Rankings less than four months ago, but a run to the final in Newport on grass and the Washington D.C. semi-finals on hard court helped him crack the Top 100 earlier this month. He will next meet 21st seed Aslan Karatsev, following the Russian’s earlier comeback from two sets down to beat Australian Jordan Thompson.

“I played him at the French [lost first round in 2021] and I’m sure we’ll go over the game plan of what to learn from when the time comes,” Brooksby said. “It’s the third round and I feel like I can keep pushing it further. I’m excited to get out there again and see what I can keep bringing.”

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Karatsev Saves Match Points To Reach US Open Third Round

  • Posted: Sep 03, 2021

Aslan Karatsev survived two match points and surged back from two sets down to thwart Jordan Thompson’s upset bid in the second round of the US Open on Thursday.

The Russian – 11th in the FedEx ATP Race to Turin – denied the Australian 3-6, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(9), 6-1 in four hours and 44 minutes. He awaits the winner of an all-American showdown between #NextGenATP player Jenson Brooksby and Taylor Fritz.

Karatsev survived the two match points during an 18-minute fourth-set tie-break before pulling clear in the fifth set to win a second match in succession for the first time since Rome in May. He won 73 per cent of first-serve points, and finished with 57 winners and 54 unforced errors.

It was the first time the 27-year-old had won back-to-back matches at a major since his breakthrough run at this year’s Australian Open, where as a qualifier he became the first man in the Open Era to reach a semi-final on his Grand Slam debut.

Having helped Russia capture the ATP Cup, he went on to beat seeds Diego Schwartzman, Felix Auger-Aliassime – also from two sets down –and Grigor Dimitrov in succession before defending champion Novak Djokovic had his number.

He backed it up with his first ATP 500 title in Dubai, with wins over four straight seeds, including #NextGenATP star Jannik Sinner and compatriot Andrey Rublev. A month later on clay, he inflicted one of only five defeats to date on World No. 1 Djokovic this season to reach the Serbian Open final, where he narrowly came up short against Matteo Berrettini.

It was a rare highlight in somewhat of a mid-year slump. Despite runner-up showings in mixed doubles with Elena Vesnina at Roland Garros and the Tokyo Olympics, in singles, Karatsev fell second round in Paris and first round at Wimbledon. He had won only one of his four matches on hard courts prior to the US Open.

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Serving With Sizzle, Zverev Races Into US Open R3

  • Posted: Sep 02, 2021

Alexander Zverev continues to shape up as the man most likely to disrupt Novak Djokovic’s quest for the Grand Slam at the US Open after powering into the third round Thursday with a crushing 6-1, 6-0 6-3 win over Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

The World No. 4 has been dominant on serve this week, not offering a single break point opportunity to Sam Querrey in the first round nor left-handed Ramos-Vinolas in today’s rout, which lasted just 74 minutes. He has dropped just eight points on his first serve through six sets.

The Monte-Carlo resident earned his 40th match win of the season and extended his winning streak to 13 matches, a run that includes clinching gold at the Tokyo Olympics and his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The German, who came within two points of seizing his first major in last year’s US Open championship match against Dominic Thiem, will next play the winner of No. 31 seed Alexander Bublik, of Kazakhstan, or American Jack Sock.

If seedings hold, Zverev will meet Djokovic in the semi-finals, where he would look to repeat his victory over the World No. 1 at the Olympics.

He has now reached the third round at Flushing Meadows for four consecutive years. Today, Zverev won 40 of 43 first-serve points and fired 11 aces against three double faults. Against Querrey in the first round, the German won 46 of 51 first-serve points and hit 18 aces to one double fault.

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Djokovic, Zverev Lead Thursday's Action At US Open; 10 Americans Compete In 2R

  • Posted: Sep 02, 2021

After Hurricane Ida, the National Weather Service of New York issuing a flash flood emergency for the city, three inches of rain in Central Park in Manhattan, and the suspension of flights at Newark Liberty International Airport, US Open organisers will certainly hope that Thursday brings better weather conditions.

Three-time former champion Novak Djokovic, last year’s runner-up Alexander Zverev, Matteo Berrettini, Denis Shapovalov and #NextGenATP stars – including Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti – all play on day four at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for a place in the third round.

World No. 1 Djokovic aims for his 40th win in 46 matches this year, as he continues his quest to complete the historic Grand Slam against Tallon Griekspoor, a player who was training in the Netherlands on clay courts last week and was uncertain that he’d secure a travel visa to make his US Open main draw debut.

With the help of the USTA, Griekspoor arrived in New York on Friday and rallied to beat Jan-Lennard Struff on Tuesday in five sets. Ahead of his first meeting with Djokovic inside Arthur Ashe Stadium at 7pm local time, the 25-year-old told ATPTour.com, “It’s going to be really, really tough. That is probably the biggest challenge in tennis at the moment, playing Novak on a hard court… This is what you dream of. It’s going to be really tough, but I’m going to enjoy it a lot.”

Djokovic will be attempting to extend his 52-1 record at major championships (12-0 at the US Open) against players outside of the Top 100. Over the next fortnight, Djokovic is not only bidding to follow in the footsteps of Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) and complete the Grand Slam, but he is also hoping to win six more matches and break a tie with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer for a record-breaking 21st major singles trophies.

Fourth seed Alexander Zverev, aiming to go one better than last year’s US Open final run (l. to Thiem), also seeks his 40th match win of 2021 and comes up against Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas second on the main show court. Seven years ago Ramos-Vinolas beat Zverev 6-1, 6-0 in an ATP Challenger Tour event in Barranquilla, Colombia, but this time around Zverev is riding a 12-match tour-level winning streak.

Victory over Djokovic en route to the Tokyo Olympics gold medal and a fifth ATP Masters 1000 title two weeks ago at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, has given 24-year-old Zverev a tremendous amount of confidence for a breakthrough run at Flushing Meadows. Should Zverev overcome Ramos-Vinolas, then Kazakhstani 31st seed Alexander Bublik or home favourite Jack Sock (third on Court 5) will be next.

View Thursday’s Schedule | Singles & Doubles Draws

Last year, Denis Shapovalov became the first Canadian male to reach the US Open quarter-finals, but three weeks later the 22-year-old fell to his Thursday opponent, Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 in the Roland Garros second round. Having snapped a four-match losing streak to record his first win as a Top 10 player by beating Federico Delbonis on Tuesday, Shapovalov will now seek to avenge the Paris loss in October 2020 that lasted five hours and five minutes. The match is scheduled last on Louis Armstrong Stadium, which also plays host to French 17th seed Gael Monfils, who is looking to extend his perfect 3-0 ATP Head2Head record against American Steve Johnson.

Sixth seed Matteo Berrettini, who reached the Wimbledon final (l. to Djokovic) in July to become the first Italian man to reach a major final since Adriano Panatta at 1976 Roland Garros, hit 17 aces past Jeremy Chardy on Tuesday and the 2019 semi-finalist faces another Frenchman, Corentin Moutet, for the first time in the second match on Grandstand. Elsewhere, Polish 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz is bidding to reach the US Open third round for the first time when he plays on Court 5 against Italy’s Andreas Seppi, who dug deep to overcome Marton Fucsovics in five sets.

 

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Ten American men are in action at Flushing Meadows on day four, including wild card Jenson Brooksby and Taylor Fritz, who play not before 5pm on Grandstand for a chance to challenge Russian 21st seed Aslan Karatsev or Jordan Thompson of Australia. Sinner, the Italian 13th seed, continues his push for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals in November, when he comes up against 18-year-old wild card Zachary Svajda third on Court 10, while 22nd seed Reilly Opelka, full of confidence after he reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Toronto, aims to record his second win over Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals hopeful Musetti on Court 17.

Mackenzie McDonald beat former World No. 4 and 2014 US Open finalist Kei Nishikori 7-5 in the third set in the Citi Open semi-finals and the pair face each other again today, also on Court 17. Second on Court 12, Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili takes on serve-and-volleyer Maxime Cressy, who saved four match points and rallied from two sets down to upset World No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta on Tuesday. Not bad for a player who didn’t make UCLA’s singles line-up as a freshman in 2015-16.

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