Ranked outside the top 50 at the time, Alcaraz was instantly heralded as a future grand slam champion and world No 1. What no one could have imagined was how quickly he would scale those heights. 

On Sunday, barely a year after he first announced his talent to the world, Alcaraz defeated Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 to clinch the US Open title. On Monday, when the new ranking list is published, he will become, at the age of 19, the youngest No 1 since the rankings were inaugurated in 1973. 

“It’s crazy,” said Alcaraz. “I’ve never thought that I was going to achieve something like that at 19 years old. Everything came so fast. For me, it’s unbelievable. It’s something I dreamed [of] since I was a kid, since I started playing tennis.”

It is an astonishing achievement by any standards, one that brackets Alcaraz alongside his compatriot Rafael Nadal, who was the same age when he won the first of his 22 majors at Roland Garros in 2005. Yet barely less remarkable than the precocity of the Spaniard’s unprecedented double is the manner in which he went about carving his place in history. 

After the gruelling path Alcaraz had taken to the final, this victory was almost an act of will. Taken the distance in three successive rounds by Marin Cilic, Jannik Sinner and Frances Tiafoe – a run that included the latest finish in US Open history against Sinner, who held a match point before Alcaraz finally prevailed at 2.50am – the Spaniard simply refused to allow fatigue to become a factor.

“It’s no time to be tired, in the final round of a grand slam,” said Alcaraz in the aftermath of a victory earned largely at the net, from where he persistently and successfully sought to shorten the rallies. “You have to give everything on court, you have to give everything that you have inside.”

In that respect, Ruud was every inch the Spaniard’s equal. The Norwegian fifth seed, contesting his second grand slam final in three months, took time to find his feet in the contest, but this performance was a world away from the hammering he took against Nadal at the French Open. 

Anxious to nullify the threat posed by Alcaraz’s unusual blend of power and finesse, Ruud had made it his goal to maintain a decent length off the ground. As he staged a brilliant recovery from a set and a break down, the 23-year-old was as good as his word. He frequently drove Alcaraz off the baseline with the pace and depth of his groundstrokes, and frequently drove him to distraction with his dogged defensive skills and ability to run down the Spaniard’s drop shots. 

As Alcaraz began to tire mentally, if not physically, his shot selection started to betray him. Time after time, drop shots found the net or sat up invitingly for Ruud to dispatch. Sensing opportunity, the Norwegian redoubled his efforts, thrashing down serves at a pace we have rarely seen from him and adding greater venom to his destructive topspin forehand. It was as much as Alcaraz could do to hang on. 

At 5-6 in the third set, Alcaraz faced two set points that threatened to swing the contest decisively in Ruud’s favour. He met the challenge head on, boldly persisting with his net-rushing tactics to angle away a magical, lunging volley before punching away an overhead. They were blows from which Ruud, who barely found the court in the ensuing tiebreak, would never recover.

“He just played too good on those points,” said Ruud. “We’ve seen it many times before, he steps up when he needs to. When it’s close, he pulls out great shots. All credit to him.

“At the same time, I’m proud of the match and the two weeks. I gave it all. I left it all out on the court. Played some phenomenal tennis throughout the two weeks, probably my best tennis ever on this surface. So I’m very happy in the end.”

It is too soon to declare the dawn of a new era. Even as the US Open entered its final hours, reports emanating from Australia suggested Novak Djokovic will be permitted to enter the country in January to compete at Melbourne Park, where he has been the champion on nine occasions. 

Body allowing, Nadal will no doubt be there too to defend his title, as will Daniil Medvedev, whose title defence in New York was ended early by Nick Kyrgios. But while the old guard may endure, they will know they have a pressing new problem.

“I’m hungry for more,” said Alcaraz. “I want to be [at] the top for many, many weeks, hopefully many years. I’m going to work hard again after this amazing two weeks. I’m going to fight for more of this.”

The post Alcaraz beats Ruud to win US Open and make No 1 appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Swiatek does love a final, though, no matter where it is played. Her record in them reads like an urban legend concocted to strike fear into the collective heart of the locker room. That record is no myth, however, and after defeating Ons Jabeur 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) to win the US Open, the third grand slam title of her career and her first beyond the clay courts of Roland Garros, the daunting reality for those who would usurp her is that the 21-year-old has now won each of her past 10 finals in straight sets.

That Swiatek extended that remarkable run at Flushing Meadows, where she arrived a fortnight ago complaining that the balls used in the women’s event were too light to control, and where she had never previously advanced beyond the fourth round, will only strengthen her burgeoning reputation as the dominant force of her generation, a player that none of her peers will wish to see across the net come finals day. 

Having won her second French Open title only three months ago, Swiatek becomes the first woman to win more than one slam in a year since Angelique Kerber in 2016, and the first to complete the Paris-New York double since Serena Williams in 2013. 

“This tournament was really challenging, because it’s New York, it’s so loud, it’s so crazy,” said Swiatek during the trophy presentation. “There were so many temptations in the city, so many people I’ve met who are so inspiring for me. It’s really mind-blowing for me, and I am so proud I could handle it mentally.”

For Jabeur, defeat in a second successive major final was crushing. After the disappointment of losing at Wimbledon, where she was slowly consumed by her own intensity as she slipped to defeat against Elena Rybakina, she had been determined to make amends in New York, determined to realise the dreams of a people and a continent by becoming the first Arab and African woman to win the US Open. Such are the expectations that follow Jabeur wherever she goes. She carries them lightly, but it is a formidable burden to bear. No wonder she has sported a T-shirt bearing the legend “Face your fears” these past two weeks.

Jabeur knew what she up against – “Iga never loses finals, so it’s going to be very tough,” she said beforehand – but forewarned was not forearmed. A combination of her own understandable nerves and Swiatek’s early excellence saw to that. The Pole opened with an ominously comfortable hold. Then the onslaught commenced. 

Jabeur’s opening service game set the tone. First she was late to a lunging return from Swiatek. Then she double-faulted. Swiatek forced an error with a sweeping crosscourt forehand, then pounced on a return. The match was barely even five minutes old, and already the Tunisian had been broken to love.

This is what Swiatek does in finals. She constricts, she controls, she dominates; she comes in with a plan and executes it with laser-like focus and unshakeable conviction. Here, she struck lines with unerring regularity and even drew first blood in the battle of the hand skills, flicking a majestic backhand half-volley beyond the startled Jabeur.

“She came off really strong and put a lot of pressure on me,” said Jabeur. “That didn’t help. I was trying to get in the match. It was very tough. She was playing really good… hitting lines a lot of times, kind of annoying from her.”

Jabeur’s response was to turn up the heat, drilling four immense winners to get back on terms. Yet she struggled throughout on serve, a shot that has been the mainstay of her game over the fortnight, and the predictability of her placement, combined with her inability to put the first ball in play, cost her dear. The Tunisian was immediately broken again, and her first-set race was as good as run.

The second set was a far closer affair, Jabeur gamely reeling in a 3-0 deficit and forcing Swiatek to make ever more frequent recourse to her remarkable defensive skills. Jabeur missed three break points in the ninth game and saved a match point in the 12th when Swiatek, bizarrely, opted to switch rackets only to send a backhand long. But the Pole held firm in the ensuing tiebreak to claim a famous victory and put the troubled weeks that followed her defeat to Alizé Cornet at Wimbledon, which ended a 37-match winning streak, well and truly behind her.

“It’s something that I wasn’t expecting for sure,” said Swiatek. “It’s also like a confirmation for me that the sky is the limit.”

The post Swiatek denies Jabeur to claim US Open title appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Then again, giving up is not in Alcaraz’s nature, a point he underlined with another signature late-night surge at the US Open, where he came from behind to outlast Frances Tiafoe in five dramatic sets, dashing American hopes of a first homegrown champion since Andy Roddick in 2003 with a 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 win.

Less than 48 hours after wrapping up a sensational quarter-final victory over Italy’s Jannik Sinner at 2.50am, the latest finish in the tournament’s history, Alcaraz was taken the distance for a third match in succession in Arthur Ashe Stadium, once again boarding the physical, mental and emotional rollercoaster before finally quelling Tiafoe’s inspired and courageous challenge a little before midnight.

His reward is a place in the first major final of his career on Sunday against Casper Ruud, the Norwegian fifth seed, with the world No 1 ranking on the line for both men. Alcaraz’s luminous talent has long since marked him out as his own man, but if ever there was a time to make like Nadal, it is now.

“No matter what I’m fighting for or what I am, I [am] just going for it,” said Alcaraz, who will become the youngest men’s No 1 in history if he beats Ruud, who overcame Karen Khachanov in the first semi-final.

“It’s close, but at the same time is so far away, you know? It’s a final of a grand slam, fighting for the No 1 in the world, something that I dreamed since I was a kid. I mean, what I have to say? Is final of a grand slam. Right now, I’m going to enjoy this moment.”

It was a night of high emotion, one on which both players dazzled with the ferocity and skill of their shot-making, the speed and elasticity of their movement, and the unflinching intensity of their commitment. The only pity of it was that someone had to come second, and while Alcaraz was left reflecting on the huge stride he had taken towards the fruition of his boyhood dreams – “I thought about a young man, like 10 years ago, dreaming for this moment right now,” he said afterwards – Tiafoe was left devastated by his inability to deliver the title to a country still reeling from the retirement of Serena Williams.

“I gave everything I had, too good from Carlos tonight,” Tiafoe told Patrick McEnroe at courtside as he fought back tears. “I gave everything I had for the last two weeks. Honestly, I came here wanting to win the US Open, I feel like I let you guys down. This one hurts, this one really, really hurts. 

“Too good from Carlos, man, you’re going to win a lot of grand slams, you’re a hell of a player, a hell of a person. I’m happy I got to share the court on such a big stage with you. I’m gonna come back and I will win this thing one day.”

Tiafoe, who was cheered on by Michelle Obama, will climb to a career-high ranking of 19th next week, but his elevation in the hearts and minds of the US public is inestimable. He has enraptured New York this past fortnight, defeating Nadal, seeing off another top-10 player in Andrey Rublev to reach his first major semi-final, and winning legions of new fans previously unfamiliar with the tale of a kid whose parents arrived in the country after fleeing the civil war in Sierra Leone, and learned to play tennis only because his father, Constant, took a job as a maintenance worker at a tennis club in Maryland that he had helped to build.

When Tiafoe won an absorbing first set on a tiebreak, it looked as though another extraordinary chapter might be added to that story. There had been little to choose between the pair up to then, with the American fending off the second of two early break points with an intelligent variation of pace on serve, and Alcaraz finding a big delivery down the centre to deny his opponent a set point at 5-6. 

The Spaniard would fend off another three set points in the ensuing tiebreak before he finally double-faulted to concede the opener. Having fallen behind, however, he set about seizing control of the contest, breaking in the sixth game of set two after a failed body-line attempt by Tiafoe, and dominating the third so completely that Tiafoe salvaged just nine points.

When Alcaraz moved a break ahead in the fourth, the contest looked over in all but name. Instead, Tiafoe, roared on by a crowd not yet ready to call it a night, reignited his hopes, levelling at 3-3, chasing down a drop shot to save a match point at 5-4, and then winning his eighth tiebreak of the tournament to force a decider.

Surely now Alcaraz’s sinew-stretching endeavours would finally catch up with him? Not so. His spirit is boundless, his willingness to accept he is beaten non-existent. Alcaraz may resist comparisons with Nadal, the last man to be crowned a grand slam champion at the age of 19, but in the face of such extraordinary resilience they are inevitable.

If they are still being made come Sunday night, he will not be complaining. 

The post Alcaraz defeats Tiafoe to reach US Open final appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

The clinical manner in which Ruud went about reaching his second grand slam final in three months at Flushing Meadows, dissecting the game of Karen Khachanov, a towering 26-year-old Russian with a booming serve and haymaker forehand, offered a cogent and compelling rejoinder.

Ruud has a formidable forehand of his own, a destructive affair delivered with pace and explosive topspin, but his game is more about all-round excellence than standout weapons. Sound technique in all areas of the court. Strong movement and tactical awareness. A calm, patient mentality that delivers calm, patient tennis. 

Considered individually, none of these qualities is likely to stop the casual passerby in their tracks; as a collective whole, they can overrun even a player of Khachanov’s potency, as the Russian acknowledged.   

“He’s No 2 in the world right now, that shows his improvement,” said Khachanov, a five-set victor over Nick Kyrgios in the previous round. “The main thing, obviously, is his consistency, his way of defending. As soon as you [start] pushing, giving him the space to step in, he’s really fast to go around his forehand, play aggressive.

“[It’s his] overall game. If you see from that perspective, he’s not that tall, but he has a big serve, precise. At the same time his main weapon is his forehand, going around, accelerating the ball, having one of the heaviest topspins on tour. He improved his backhand as well. He’s not missing that many balls. He’s changing down the line. He’s overall a consistent baseliner, let’s call him like that.”

Over the course of three workmanlike hours, Ruud outshone the Muscovite in every department, generating more winners (53 to 43), making fewer unforced errors (34 to 41), creating more break points and, most notably, winning a higher percentage of points behind both his first and second serves. 

Unsurprisingly, it was enough to earn Ruud a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory that sets up a straight shootout with Carlos Alcaraz, a five-set winner over Frances Tiafoe, for the US Open title and world No 1 ranking.

“If I want to beat Carlos, I’ll need to play very precise with all the shots that I hit, especially try to keep him a little bit further back in the court, to play with good depth and length on all my shots,” said Ruud, the first Norwegian man to reach a major final. 

“If he steps in, he can do anything with the ball. He can rip a winner. He also has great touch with the drop shot. I think he has one of the best drop shots on tour. 

“If you play with good depth and good length, it’s tougher to hit drop shots. That will be something that I will try to focus on. We’re playing for the tournament and also world No 1. Of course, there will be nerves, and we will both feel it.”

After facing Khachanov, he will be well rehearsed. Nerves were evident from both men in the early stages, with four of the first eight games going against serve. 

The opening set came down to a lung-busting 55-shot rally at 6-5 in the tiebreak, the rarest of novelties in an era when advances in racket and string technology have enabled players to generate unprecedented power. It was Ruud who emerged trembly-legged but triumphant, raising his arms aloft after finally forcing an error with a deep backhand into Khachanov’s forehand corner, and from that point on the Norwegian grew in stature. 

“That gave, of course, motivation and energy to play good and keep going in the second,” said Ruud, who raced through the second set and, having dropped the third in the face of some irresistible serving from Khachanov, broke early in the fourth with a sensational running forehand.

This time last year, Ruud was wont to make jokes at his own expense about his prowess on hard courts. His best results have come on European clay: he won three consecutive titles on red dirt last summer, and was a finalist at Roland Garros in June, when he was put firmly in his place by Nadal. 

Yet, as he has pointed out, the weather in his native Oslo obliged him to spend six months of each season playing on indoor hard courts during his formative years. He is no stranger to the surface, and this season’s run to the Miami Open final – where he was stopped in straight sets by Alcaraz – served not only to reinforce his own confidence, but also reshaped the perceptions of his peers.

“Reaching that final did something with my self-belief, but also respect [from] other players,” said Ruud. “Whenever they look at my results, they’ll see, ‘OK, he made the final of an ATP 1000 on hard court. This guy knows [how] to play more than just on clay.’”

“If you can have small percentages of fear or respect in your opponent’s head before going out in a match, it will of course help.”

That is not an advantage Ruud will enjoy against Alcaraz, who has won both their previous meetings. Yet the Spanish third seed was once again forced to battle long into the night against Tiafoe, and after surviving three epic matches in succession – including a 2.50am finish, the latest in US Open history, against Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals – it remains to be seen how much the 19-year-old has left in the tank. 

If perspiration outweighs inspiration, perceptions may need to shift further before the week is out.

The post Ruud eclipses Khachanov to reach US Open final appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Jabeur, seeded fifth here but poised to regain the world No 2 ranking next week, took the high road, storming past Caroline Garcia of France 6-1, 6-3 to reach the second grand slam final of her career, only two months after she made the first at Wimbledon. 

Swiatek, the world No 1 and French Open champion, was forced down a more winding path by Aryna Sabalenka, bouncing back from a set down before cancelling out a 4-2 deficit in the decider to battle past the powerful Belarusian sixth seed 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and 11 minutes.

It means a US Open that began with Serena Williams occupying centre stage will end with a final between the best two players in the world at present, something of a collector’s item in an era when the unprecedented depth of the women’s game has yielded surprises such as Elena Rybakina’s Wimbledon win and Emma Raducanu’s victory in New York last year. Already, both players have made history, Jabeur as the first Arab and African woman to reach a US Open final, Swiatek as the first Polish woman to do so. 

Whoever prevails on Saturday, there will be little by way of shock value. Swiatek’s form had waned in the weeks following her Wimbledon defeat to Alizé Cornet, which ended a run of 37 straight wins and six consecutive titles, and it is no secret that the lighter balls used in the women’s event in New York are not to her liking.

Yet how she has embraced the challenge, dispatching former champion Sloane Stephens with an accomplished performance in round two, surviving a last-16 scare against the powerful German Jule Niemeier, and then claiming her eighth successive straight-sets win over a top-10 player against Jessica Pegula.

Sabalenka, who looked back to her potent best during her wins over Danielle Collins and Karolina Pliskova, presented a challenge of a different order. For a set, Swiatek struggled to contain the Belarusian’s power. Having fallen behind, however, the 21-year-old steadied herself brilliantly, absorbing Sabalenka’s pace with her extraordinary movement and defensive skills, and showing steely resolve to fight back in the decider.

“I’m pretty happy that even though maybe I wasn’t feeling 100% perfect from the beginning of the tournament, I was still able to get better and better and to play a really solid game,” said Swiatek. 

“For me, winning when I’m not feeling perfect, it’s the best feeling.” 

Thoughts of imperfection were far from the mind of Jabeur, who has lost just one set en route to the final and had far too much guile and variety for Garcia, the 17th seed.

Garcia has been the summer’s standout player, winning three titles on three different surfaces, and after her extraordinary run in Cincinnati, where she came through qualifying to lift the title, she stepped out to face Jabeur on a 13-match winning streak. 

Many felt the Frenchwoman, a former world No 4, was destined for the title, but her aggressive, first-strike style failed to make an impression on Jabeur, the Tunisian’s impeccable serving and dizzying changes of pace and spin disrupting the 28-year-old’s rhythm and confidence in her first major semi-final.

“I know she was very confident, so I had to really impose my game from the beginning,” said Jabeur. “Tactically, I think I played really well.”

The post Swiatek to face Jabeur in US Open final after Sabalenka win appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Nonetheless, here goes: one day, when Alcaraz reaches the end of his career and the Serena Williams-style video montages come to be compiled, few shots will feature more prominently than the airborne, behind-the-back effort the Spaniard conjured late in the second set of his 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-7 (0-7), 7-5, 6-3 US Open quarter-final victory over Jannik Sinner.

On an electric night at Flushing Meadows, it was a moment that showcased all the qualities that mark out Alcaraz as a generational talent. Extraordinary speed, athleticism, strength and balance, certainly. But also a rare gift for improvisation, and the technical excellence to breathe life into strokes that, for most, live only in the hinterlands of the imagination. 

You know you have done something special when you leave Juan Carlos Ferrero, the quietly understated former world No 1, who has coached Alcaraz since he was 16, shaking his head in disbelief and mouthing, “Man.”

Context matters too when it comes to such considerations, and it is a reflection of the heights scaled by Sinner, in what was one of the finest matches of the season, that Alcaraz’s stroke of genius neither propelled him to a break nor gave him the impetus to win the tiebreak that followed. 

Instead, Sinner went on to level at a set all, and the Spanish teenager was forced to take the long-haul route to victory, finally prevailing at 2.50am after five hours and 15 minutes of unforgettable, gladiatorial tennis.

“I feel great to be in my first semi-final in a grand slam,” said Alcaraz, the third seed. “I feel better reaching [that] semi-final here at the US Open. 

“This tournament is amazing. The crowd is amazing, I would say the best in the world. I mean, the energy I received in this court at 3am, it was unbelievable. Probably in other tournaments, other places, everybody would have gone to their house to rest. But they kept in the court, supporting me. It was unbelievable.”

It will be remembered as the latest finish in the tournament’s history, comfortably eclipsing the previous record of 2.26am, and the night that Alcaraz reached his first major semi-final, the youngest man to do so since Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros in 2005. 

It will be remembered for the unrelenting drama that saw Alcaraz save a match point in the fourth set. For the relentless, jaw-dropping quality of the ball-striking from both men. For the kaleidoscopic range and extraordinary dexterity of their skills, and for the mesmeric speed of their court coverage. Rarely has the term “winner” felt more provisional.  

It will also go down as a coming-of-age moment in a rivalry between two young players with the ability to shape the course of the men’s game for years to come. Sinner, 21 years old and ranked 13th in the world, had won two of his three previous tour-level meetings with Alcaraz, most recently at Wimbledon two months ago. Another victory for the Italian might have risked temporarily dampening the sense of excitement surrounding their nascent tug-of-war. There is no risk of that now. Instead, Alcaraz landed an important psychological blow, levelling their personal series and demonstrating to his fellow prodigy that he will not have things all his own way on the game’s grandest stages.

“I always say that you have to believe in yourself all the time,” said Alcaraz in the immediate aftermath of victory. “The hope is the last thing that you lose. I just believed in myself, believed in my game.”

Frances Tiafoe has all but made that sentiment his personal mantra at this US Open, and it is the 24-year-old American that Alcaraz will face on Friday as both men attempt to reach their first major final. 

To the clamorous approval of a New York crowd craving a first homegrown champion since Andy Roddick – not to mention a prolongation of the wave of patriotic fervour stirred by Serena Williams’s farewell and sustained by his own inspired run – Tiafoe backed up his win over Rafael Nadal in the previous round with a 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-0), 6-4 victory over Andrey Rublev, the Russian ninth seed.

It was a performance of power, aggression and no little variety from Tiafoe, who fended off a set point in the opener with a mighty forehand and then played a flawless tiebreak to take a two-set lead, running the gamut from booming aces to the deftest of drop volleys. 

“It was honestly a laughable tiebreaker,” smiled Tiafoe afterwards. “You can’t make that up.” 

For Rublev, a sixth grand slam quarter-final without success – and a third in five years at Flushing Meadows – was almost too much to bear. When Tiafoe moved ahead decisively midway through the third set, it wasn’t just the Russian’s serve that was broken, it was also his spirit, the 24-year-old’s emotion turmoil painfully evident as he sat weeping into his towel. 

Tiafoe joked afterwards that he hoped Alcaraz and Sinner played each other into the ground. 

“I just hope they play a marathon match, super-long match, and they get really tired come Friday,” he said.

His wish granted, he must hope now hope he can bring Alcaraz back down to Earth. As Sinner discovered, that is easier said than done.

The post Alcaraz soars to win US Open classic against Sinner appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

While Elena Rybakina was cutting a swathe through the women’s draw at the All England Club this summer, a body of work that would culminate with the Duchess of Cambridge presenting the Venus Rosewater dish to a player born and raised in Moscow, Aryna Sabalenka was busy putting in the hard yards during a training block in Miami. 

If there was a bright side to being barred from the tournament where Sabalenka had reached her first major semi-final the previous year, when she was beaten in three tight sets by Karolina Pliskova, it was that it gave the Belarusian a chance to reset. A wretched start to the season had seen her service disintegrate; with it had gone her form, confidence and status as the world’s No 2 player. Now she had a rare chance to disembark from the treadmill of the tour and put things right. 

The results have been plain to see at this US Open, where Sabalenka reached the semi-finals for the second year in a row with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Pliskova, avenging last summer’s defeat to the Czech in SW19. The 24-year-old believes her enforced absence from Wimbledon has improved her prospects of success in New York; paradoxically, in denying Sabalenka the chance to win one major title, the All England Club may have inadvertently helped her to win another.

“I had another pre-season,” said Sabalenka, the sixth seed, of her time in Miami. “I worked really hard, and I worked a lot on my serve. It was a tough time, especially when I was working out in the gym and there was Wimbledon playing on the TV. I would always turn it off, because I couldn’t watch it. 

“I had a lot of good memories from there, and I missed it very much. That’s why I wasn’t able to watch it, because it reminded me about the great time I had there. But it’s okay. Whatever.

“They took away one opportunity from me, and I worked really hard for this one.”

Sabalenka has progressed through the draw at Flushing Meadows like an angel of vengeance. In the second round, she rebounded from a set and 5-1 down to claim an improbable win over Kaia Kanepi, saving two match points along the way. The Estonian veteran had defeated her in a final-set tiebreak at the Australian Open, a period when she was racking up double faults by the dozen, and since putting that wrong to right Sabalenka has performed with the free-swinging abandon of a woman playing with house money. 

Against Pliskova, she completed her revenge mission without facing a single break point, and it was indicative of how far she has come since the dark days of early January – when she struck 39 double faults over the course of two matches in Adelaide – that, when the crunch moments came late in the second set, she went for her second serve without compunction. 

That was never more apparent than when Sabalenka thundered down a 103mph second serve ace early in the tiebreak. What Pliskova would have given to have her own huge delivery functioning with such fluency. Instead it was the Czech, a finalist in New York six years ago, who struggled with double faults early in the contest, delivering three in her first two games to fall a double break behind. She would finish the opener with 15 unforced errors and just a solitary winner, a dire return for a player of her quality.

“She was playing super-aggressive, serving amazing,” said Pliskova, the 22nd seed. “I think I never played her in this kind of shape. I guess there are days like this, when she’s playing amazing, I’m not playing the best, not serving the best at all today. I just somehow couldn’t feel really the court. I was a bit lost out there.”

There were times late in the second set against Jessica Pegula when Iga Swiatek looked lost, but the world No 1 rode out the shifting rhythms of a contest featuring 13 service breaks to seal a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) victory that puts her through to the semi-finals for the first time. 

After falling behind to an early break, a change of racket brought a change of fortune for Swiatek, who reeled off five straight games to move ahead by a set and a break. But Pegula, bidding to reach her first major semi-final after losing in the last eight at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, belatedly found her range from the baseline, twice thwarting the Polish top seed as she served for the match.

“For most of the tournament, when the ball was flying away, I focused just on myself and changing the technique a little bit to keep it in,” said Swiatek, whose consternation about the lighter balls used in the women’s event has been the subject of much discussion.

“Today, I realised that I need extra help from the racquet and the string itself, because Jessie is such a tough opponent. 

“I realised that it may be better to switch rackets, even though I’m only switching after the ball change.  I think it helped me a lot. I think also the conditions helped me, because it was colder today. The ball wasn’t flying as much.”

Against Sabalenka, it will be flying plenty.

The post Sabalenka storms past Pliskova at US Open appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

It is a conveniently pithy adage, yet it is only a partial representation of Billie Jean King’s famous words, which continue: “Usually if you have tremendous pressure, it’s because an opportunity comes along.” With the men’s quarter-finals at the US Open shorn of the big three for the second time in three years, a fuller exposition might be in order. 

Opportunity looms large at Flushing Meadows, where a grand slam champion from outside the triumvirate of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will be crowned on Sunday for only the eighth time since Federer won his first Wimbledon title in 2003. On a day of heavy rainfall in New York, the attendant pressures were plain to see. 

Matteo Berrettini was the first to sink without trace. The Italian, a semi-finalist three years ago, was swept aside 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) as Casper Ruud, the fifth seed, rode a tide of inspiration to reach the last four for the first time. 

Many observers expected Berrettini, with his booming serve, flamethrower forehand and superior grand slam pedigree, to have too much for the Norwegian. But on an afternoon when Berrettini barely turned up until he was on the verge of a two-set deficit, a fourth major semi-final was never on the cards.

“I was really bad,” said Berrettini. “I didn’t check my percentage of serve. I didn’t check the stats, but my game wasn’t there.

“He played a really good match, and I played a really bad match. Really nothing I can say, more than [this was] the worst day of the tournament, probably in the most important moment. Nothing today. I mean, I fought through, but it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t feeling my game. I wasn’t feeling my mindset.”

As Berrettini wilted in the face of opportunity, Ruud soared. It was an immaculate performance from the 23-year-old, who reached his first grand slam final this summer at Roland Garros and has a chance to claim the No 1 ranking if he can advance to the title round of a second major in three months.

Having set out to nullify Berrettini’s heavy artillery by making a high percentage of returns and forcing the Italian to contest the baseline exchanges off his weaker backhand side, Ruud executed his strategy to near perfection. The Norwegian surrendered just two unforced errors en route to a 6-1, 5-1 lead and then weathered a belated fightback from Berrettini, who established a 5-2 lead in the third set, to save two set points. 

Buoyed by his growing feel for the rhythms of the five-set format, and increasingly confident on hard courts after reaching the final of the Miami Open earlier this year, Ruud is embracing the possibilities that lie ahead.

“It’s sort of a city of dreams, and I guess that’s helping me with my game and my motivation,” said Ruud, who also reached the last four in Montreal before the US Open. 

“During Paris, something clicked, and I feel like this year I have sort of figured out a better way to play five sets, knowing that it’s very different from playing best of three sets.

“It often becomes much longer matches, and a lot of back and forth. Also realising or knowing that you can sort of let one set go every once in a while, to save some energy for the rest of the sets. So I think I matured and learned how to play five sets better than I did last year.”

The same might be said of Nick Kyrgios, whose run to the Wimbledon final has been the catalyst for a remarkable summer in which he has emerged as the tour’s form player, claiming the Washington title and twice defeating Daniil Medvedev, the current world No 1. 

Bookmakers promptly installed Kyrgios as the title favourite following Nadal’s shock defeat to Frances Tiafoe in the last 16, but expectation caught up with the volatile Australian against Karen Khachanov, who consigned Kyrgios to a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4 defeat that left the 23rd seed smashing his rackets in frustration.

“I’m just devastated,” said Kyrgios, who was troubled by a sore knee in the early stages of a predictably service-dominated contest. 

“I just feel like it was either winning it all or nothing at all, to be honest. I feel like I’ve just failed at this event right now.

“I honestly feel like shit. I feel like I’ve let so many people down.”

At the heart of Kyrgios’s disappointment lay an appreciation that, with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer absent and Nadal beaten – and having ended Medvedev’s reign as champion in the previous round – he may never have a better opportunity to win a grand slam title. He will have known, too, that had he converted either of the two break points he held in the ninth game of the third set, the outcome might have been different. Instead, Khachanov served an ace before Kyrgios, to his evident, racket-smashing dismay, blasted an inviting forehand long.

They were not the only chances that went begging – Khachanov twice served his way out of trouble in the opening game of that set – and although Kyrgios recovered well to force a decider, an early break proved fatal to his ambitions. 

Huge credit must go to Khachanov, who embraced the chance to reach his first grand slam semi-final with a performance full of steel and resilience. 

“I would say it was quite open for all the guys because everybody [could] see that there is [an] opportunity to take the trophy,” said the 26-year-old. “I would say maybe it even increased the level for everyone.”

Some more than others, it would be fair to say.

The post As US Open glory beckons, Kyrgios and Berrettini fall appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Three years ago, Tiafoe advanced to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, where he was handily beaten by Rafael Nadal. He was hardly the first rising star to receive a reality check at the hands of a member of the big four, yet few who went before him were blessed with the speed, power and athleticism at Tiafoe’s disposal.

As he prepared to lock horns with Nadal again at this year’s US Open, the 24-year-old insisted that this time would be different. He was, he said, a better player now. Possessed of greater self-belief. No longer in awe of a player from whom he had never previously taken a set. He felt he could win, but also knew he would need to match the Spaniard’s intensity.

Tiafoe, 24, did that and a good deal more on Monday evening in New York, achieving the finest victory of his career as he upset Nadal 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach his second major quarter-final, in the process consigning the Spaniard to his first grand slam defeat of the season.  

A poignant moment followed as Tiafoe, who sobbed uncontrollably in the aftermath of victory, was interviewed on court by James Blake – a man who knows what it is to defeat Nadal in this stadium, having done so himself in 2005.

“I can’t believe it,” said Tiafoe, who will play Andrey Rublev next after the Russian defeated Cameron Norrie in straight sets. “He’s definitely one of the greatest of all time. I played unbelievable tennis today. I really don’t know what happened.”

For once, there were no miracles for Nadal. For once, he was unable to come into a grand slam with minimal preparation and play his way into form, mounting a gloriously improbable comeback from injury, as he had done in Melbourne and Paris.

Only Nadal will know how far along the road he is with his recovery from the abdominal injury he suffered at Wimbledon, which forced him to withdraw before his semi-final against Nick Kyrgios. What is certain is that he has been below his best in New York over the past week, dropping sets against Rinky Hijikata and Fabio Fognini in the opening two rounds and playing with an adjusted service motion to take the stress off his abdominal area. 

There were no excuses from the Spaniard afterwards. Nadal denied reports that he received treatment on an injury after leaving the court for seven minutes at the end of the first set, explaining that he was simply having more strapping applied to his wrists in an effort to keep the sweat off his hands in the suffocating humidity. Tiafoe, he insisted, was simply the better player on the day. 

“I was not able to hold a high level of tennis for a long time, I was not enough quick in my movement,” said Nadal, a four-time champion in New York, after his first defeat of the season at a major. “He was able to take the ball too many times very early, so I was not able to push him back 

“I don’t think I pushed him enough to create him the doubts that I need to create… I need to analyse why I was not able to create the damage that normally I do.”

Nadal, who was broken in the seventh game of the match, seemed peculiarly wedded to the tactic of hammering his second serve, an approach that led to nine double faults. Yet, having levelled the match after a poor service game from Tiafoe at the end of the second set, he began to play some of his best tennis of the afternoon before the American reasserted control with his huge serving and withering power off the ground.

“It’s so emotional, I can’t believe how well I did,” said Tiafoe. “To be able to beat Rafa, I never thought in my career I would beat a top-three [player], so it’s something to tell the kids, the grandkids one day.”

The post Nadal suffers shock US Open exit against Tiafoe appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

On a night of high drama and high quality at Flushing Meadows, follow Medvedev did – and it cost him his US Open title and No 1 ranking, as Kyrgios claimed a 7-6 (13-11), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory to reach his first quarter-final at Flushing Meadows.

It was a performance of majesty laced with the occasional moment of madness from the Australian, who saved three set points to come through a compelling first set, inexplicably sat out the second, and staged a bizarre act of self-sabotage early in the third when he illegally rounded the net to volley away a loose ball, denying himself a potentially vital break point. 

Kyrgios atoned for that lapse at the first opportunity, however, wresting Medvedev’s next service game from him with the help of two searing crosscourt forehands, and he held firm to continue the remarkable summer surge that has carried him to a first grand slam final at Wimbledon, a second title in Washington, and 20 wins from his past 23 matches.

“This is the last trip before I head back to Australia, so I want to go all the way,” Kyrgios told Patrick McEnroe on court afterwards. “Hopefully it’s possible.”

Increasingly, with Kyrgios, anything feels possible. He had Medvedev under his spell even before the first ball had been struck, the Russian adopting a return position significantly closer to the baseline than normal. The idea, Medvedev later explained, was to deter Kyrgios from following his delivery to the net. That was an understandable impulse, given the incessant net-rushing that carried the Australian to victory when the pair met last month in Montreal, but it also felt like a tacit concession of vulnerability. 

The world’s top-ranked player – a status Medvedev will now lose to either Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz or Casper Ruud next week – might expect his opponents to have to make allowances for his game, rather than vice versa. Yet it has been a complicated season for the Muscovite, who narrowly lost out to Nadal in the Australian Open final, fell to Marin Cilic at Roland Garros shortly after undergoing a hernia operation, and was unable to compete at Wimbledon due to the tournament’s blanket ban on Russian and Belarusian players. 

Medvedev’s greatest mistake, however, lay in attempting to play Kyrgios at his own game, a problem that started with a break point he faced at 3-2 in the opening set. Having prodded a lovely off-backhand return to fashion the opportunity, Kyrgios gesticulated wildly to the crowd, revving them up, urging them to show greater energy. Medvedev, quietly seething, went on to screw a forehand approach wide, and in the next game he replied in kind, twice appealing to the stands for support as he broke straight back. Anything you can do. 

Anxious not to cede ground in the battle for hearts and minds, however, Medvedev did not stop there. With Kyrgios a break to the good at 2-1 in the fourth set, a return winner earned the Russian a lifeline at 30-40. As he readied himself behind the baseline, Medvedev attempted to stir up the crowd again.

Now it was Kyrgios who became enraged, earning a warning for an audible obscenity before crashing down a huge ace. A primal roar followed. Medvedev, who revealed afterwards that he was “feeling his throat a little bit”, would not threaten again. Kyrgios held for 3-1 and, when he earned a break point in the next game, he stoked the crowd with far greater theatrically than Medvedev – and probably anyone else in the draw – could ever hope to muster. The psychological war was won.

“It was pretty even till the third set, then he got a little bit the better of me,” said Medvedev. “Physically I started feeling little bit worse in the third set, so I think that was a little bit the key. I don’t know how he was. Maybe he was also. Physically I started just feeling a little bit more tired.”

Medvedev compared it afterwards to facing Novak Djokovic or Nadal. 

“Played Novak, Rafa, they all play amazing,” said the Russian. “Nick today played kind of their level, in my opinion.”

Whatever the similarity in level, however, Kyrgios remains a world away from those players in mindset. Djokovic and Nadal are winning machines, their combined tally of 43 majors the product of relentless competitive intensity. Aesthetic concerns or thoughts of who might be in the stands barely warrant a second thought in their worldview, certainly not in the heat of battle. Not so Kyrgios, who spoke afterwards of his relief at finally doing himself justice in front of the New York crowd.

“I feel like I’ve been able to showcase,” said the Australian, who will face Karen Khachanov, the 27th seed, in the last eight. “There’s a lot of celebrities here, a lot of important people here watching. I wanted to get on that court and show them I am able to put my head down and play and win these big matches.”

The key, as Kyrgios acknowledged, was a tense and testy opening set in which the chair umpire, Eva Asderaki, frequently found herself in the firing line. Kyrgios complained of being rushed on serve, berating Asderaki for what he felt was an overzealous deployment of the time clock, while Medvedev took exception to the overexuberance of the Australian’s box, claiming he had been disturbed while serving. 

Yet the greater problem for the top seed was Kyrgios’s clutch play in the tiebreak. The man from Canberra snuffed out Medvedev’s first set point with a big serve, staved off another by taking a backhand return impossibly early, and then dispatched the sweetest of backhand volleys on to the outermost edge of the sideline to cancel out the third. 

“The first set, I guess, was the most important thing,” said Kyrgios. “I feel like if he’d got that first set, it was going to be pretty much an impossible task for me to come back and win. I just thought I played the right way.”

He has been playing the right way all summer. It may yet carry him to a first grand slam title.

The post Kyrgios ends Medvedev’s US Open reign appeared first on Love Game Tennis.