Medvedev drops just four games in dominant last-16 win
Daniil Medvedev drops just four games as he breezes past Nuno Borges to secure his place in the US Open quarter-finals.
Daniil Medvedev drops just four games as he breezes past Nuno Borges to secure his place in the US Open quarter-finals.
Is ‘hard-court specialist’ Daniil Medvedev ready to go all the way once more at the US Open?
The fifth seed and 2021 titlist continued his impressive 2024 campaign at the New York major with a 6-0, 6-1, 6-3 fourth-round triumph against Nuno Borges on Monday afternoon. Medvedev was in control for almost all of the one-hour, 51-minute encounter, during which his only brief moment of peril came when he trailed by a break early in the third set.
Full on pedal to the metal from Daniil 💨@DaniilMedwed reaches his 11th Grand Slam quarter-final after racing past Borges 6-0 6-1 6-3!@usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/ZZYvUSUCXt
— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 2, 2024
Since 2018, Medvedev has won more tour-level matches (268) on hard courts than anyone else on the ATP Tour: Andrey Rublev is second on that list with 210. The No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings certainly appeared at home inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, where he ground Borges down with his trademark retrieval skills and converted eight of 16 break points he earned.
“I try to work hard. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t,” Medvedev told his ATP Tour rival Nick Kyrgios in his on-court interview. “There are days when it is tougher to go out on court and practise, but I have the mentality that if the other guy practises more than me, I have less chances to win, and I want to win all the time. So I try to practise as much as I can.
“I’ve had a lot of success here at the US Open and last time I lost in the fourth round was against you. Good memories.”
[ATP APP]Medvedev, who is bidding to win the same trophy twice for the first time this fortnight in New York, has now won all three of his Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with Portuguese star Borges following his victories earlier this year at the Australian Open and in Halle. The 28-year-old, who has dropped just one set across his four matches so far, will play top seed Jannik Sinner or home favourite Tommy Paul in the quarter-finals.
His run in New York so far has also boosted Medvedev’s chances of qualifying for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals for the sixth consecutive year. The 20-time tour-level champion is currently fourth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, and he could jump above Carlos Alcaraz into third by clinching the US Open trophy.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]
A lot of the attention on Jannik Sinner’s game goes to his booming groundstrokes and dominant baseline game. But the key to his ascent to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings this year has been his serve.
The Italian has dominated all major service categories according to Infosys ATP Stats, positioning himself to unleash the rest of his game on the ATP Tour.
“There are still signs of sometimes being inconsistent with that shot. It has been more consistent in the last three, four months, that’s for sure,” Sinner told ATPTour.com in Cincinnati. “Then it’s a weapon or a shot where I can put myself a little bit out of danger sometimes, but I still believe that there’s a lot of work to do.”
Sinner entered the US Open leading the Tour in service games won (91.3%), second-serve points won (57.5%) and break points saved (72.9%). He is second in first-serve points won at 79.5 per cent, which only trails Grigor Dimitrov.
“We changed a couple of things with the toss of the ball, and also my mental side,” Sinner said. “It has been different, trying to play sometimes with a bit more rotation, instead of going to hit the ace or all that stuff.”
<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/09/02/18/37/sinner-cincinnati-2024-serve-final.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Jannik Sinner” />
Photo Credit: Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour
One of the best servers in the history of tennis, John Isner, has taken notice of the Italian’s improvement. The final meeting of their Lexus ATP Head2Head series came two years ago at Wimbledon.
“A lot of people have noticed, myself included, that Sinner has, really since working with Darren Cahill, changed his service motion from platform to pinpoint,” Isner said. “His serve looks pretty similar to mine and in my mind, that’s the superior way to serve. So he obviously stuck with it. It seems like it would be a simple change, but it’s definitely not. He stuck with it, stayed the course and it’s paying off for him as his service numbers are so, so good.”
Isner won 91.8 per cent of his service games in his career, with his record 14,470 aces a big reason why. The American explained that Sinner’s improvement has been different.
“It’s not that he’s hitting a million aces like I did, but a little bit better placement allows him to dictate play much quicker in the rally on his serve and we all know he’s one of the best baseliners in the world,” Isner said. “It seems to me he’s improved just his serve in a vacuum about 10 per cent and that’s been huge for him and a big reason why he ascended to No. 1 in the world.”
Another dominant server, Reilly Opelka, won a doubles title with Sinner in Atlanta in 2021. The American missed nearly two years due to a wrist injury. But upon his return this year in Newport, he raved about how much the Italian has improved.
“Jannik’s improved a tonne since I’ve been on Tour. No one talks about it just because he was always really good,” Opelka said. “He didn’t have a great serve when I left. He took the ball almost too early, and made too many unforced errors. The guy barely loses to anybody now. You can’t say hands down the best player in the world since Alcaraz won Wimbledon, but those two are on their own level.”
[ATP APP]According to Opelka, Sinner is hitting his spots with his serve “way better” and his cadence has changed.
“His motion looks faster. It looks like he changed the tempo of his motion,” Opelka said. “Any young guy — he was so young, and he was so good — you just knew he was going to improve and he’s still going to improve, which is scary. I got to hang out with him in Atlanta. Nicest kid in the whole world. We were going to dinner every night. Everything that you see, that you suspect, is who he really is. He’s as sweet of a guy as you can imagine.”
Sinner has not served quite as well in New York, where he has won 85 per cent of his service games. However, compared to his early-career numbers, that is still a solid effort. Before 2023, the Italian never won more than 83 per cent of his service games in a season.
The 85 per cent is also slightly misleading. The 23-year-old has lost serve six times in the tournament, and three of those service games came in his first set of the tournament. In his nine sets since, he has dropped a total of three service games. Excluding that opening set against Mackenzie McDonald, Sinner has won 89.5 per cent of his service games.
Sinner’s second-round opponent, #NextGenATP American Alex Michelsen, came away from their clash inside Arthur Ashe Stadium impressed.
“The guy is hitting 128 [mph] flat wide aces on the Ad and [at] 15/30, 40/30, on big points, he’s coming up with the goods,” Michelsen said. “He’s a very clutch server and that’s not really something I realised until I played him and it’s just like, ‘Ugh, this guy’s getting two, three free points a game’, and that helps a lot.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Alex de Minaur is enjoying another fruitful season. The Australian, No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings, peaked at No. 6 a few months ago and has claimed two titles in 2024 (Acapulco and ’s-Hertogenbosch).
De Minaur also reached the last eight at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. On Monday, De Minaur will take on his countryman Jordan Thompson at the US Open for a place in yet another major quarter-final. What is clear is that, despite his 25 years, the Australian is still getting better. His recent improvements have earned him a place among the best players in the world.
“Honestly, there’s no secret to progress other than following our most basic ideas and principles,” Adolfo Gutierrez, De Minaur’s coach, told ATPTour.com in New York. “My father taught me that it is daily hard work, never giving up, and believing in what we’re doing.
“The goals we have today are still to improve everything: to be a better player, a better person and not to settle for anything. As well as trusting oneself in the big moments, and training to be ready, above all for the Grand Slams, which were on our to-do list.”
Of course, the 2024 version of De Minaur was not built in a couple of days. Gutierrez, who has been with the Australian since his junior days, knows exactly what the process was to improve a player who already had formidable foundations. Now, through pure hard work, De Minaur has found his place among the elite.
“Since we started together, we’ve tried to maintain a clear focus, which has been to base ourselves on improving physically, maintaining his speed and above all his strength,” explained Gutierrez. “In recent years the work has been more about playing much more aggressively in an attempt to dominate as much as possible.”
The point is over when @alexdeminaur says so! 💨@usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/PaRlCboTDa
— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 1, 2024
And what of De Minaur’s mental development?
“I strongly believe that his biggest improvement has been mental,” acknowledged Gutierrez. “Without confidence, without believing in oneself, in what we want to achieve, it would’ve been impossible. We’ve been working on many things mentally and we’re seeing the results of that. It motivates us to believe more in it. As a consequence, it helps me further develop and improve his tennis.”
De Minaur nonetheless has some unfinished business in 2024: he had to withdraw from Wimbledon before taking to court for his last-eight clash against Novak Djokovic as the result of a hip cartilage injury. If he defeats Thompson on Monday in New York, he will get another bite at a Grand Slam quarter-final.
“We weren’t able to play the quarters at Wimbledon because of the injury, and we were playing very well,” lamented Gutierrez. “After that, the recovery wasn’t easy, but luckily we’re back and feeling better every day.
“When you reach the quarters of a Grand Slam you’re always playing with the best players at that time, and it gets very tough. You have to stay in the moment and hope that the nerves and tension affect your opponent more, and that things go well in terms of that little bit of luck you always need.”
[ATP APP]In that context, De Minaur has some ambitious goals in mind, for this season and, of course, for the rest of his career.
“Honestly, we never set limits for ourselves and it’s not because we’re arrogant or pretentious,” said Gutierrez, whose charge is currently eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin. “I think that would be a mistake on our part. Whatever has to happen will happen, but we’ll work to be as high as possible and to stay there, which is the most difficult part.
“Short term, the goal is to be in Turin [at the Nitto ATP Finals]. It would be a dream after the injury and missing some important tournaments. We’ll keep trying, or at least to be able to finish our first year among the best, which was the goal at the start of the year.”
Editor’s note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es
[NEWSLETTER FORM]
Coco Gauff says she “expects better” from herself, after her US Open title defence was ended by Emma Navarro in the fourth round in New York.
China’s Zheng Qinwen reaches US Open quarter-finals at 02:15am on Monday in a record late finish for a women’s match in the tournament.
Aryna Sabalenka reaches the US Open quarter-finals for the fourth year in a row with an assured victory over Elise Mertens.
Frances Tiafoe rising to the occasion at the US Open has become an annual tradition. The final major of the 2024 season has proven no different.
The 20th seed advanced to the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows for a third consecutive year on Sunday evening when he defeated 28th seed Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3 in three hours and two minutes. The home favourite will play ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov in the last eight.
“I always dreamt about playing on this court [since I was] a kid. I used to hit against the wall and wanted to compete on this court,” Tiafoe said in his on-court interview. “Seeing the Williams sisters win titles here, seeing Roger win here a million times, I was like ‘I just want to play on this court’. It’s so iconic, obviously named after Arthur Ashe, so I wanted to be a part of that. I think it brings out the best of me.”
Welcome to the Late Night Show, starring Big Foe! ✨@usopen | #USOpen | @FTiafoe pic.twitter.com/Sis71NoMev
— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 2, 2024
Tiafoe arrived in Cincinnati with a 19-18 tour-level record this season. Since then he has won nine of 10 matches, including a run to his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Ohio and now his fourth major quarter-final.
The match was a lot closer than the scoreline indicates. Popyrin, who stunned 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in the third round, led the second set 5-2 and earned three set points on serve at 5-3, 40/0 before his second serve let him down in the ensuing tie-break. He hit eight double faults in the match.
“He was serving 5-3, 40/0. I was like, ‘Well I’m pretty sweaty, I’m sweating through my shoes. I’m about to go and change and try to win this thing in four’,” Tiafoe said. “I won a point, won another point. I was like, ‘Ooh’. He gave me one. I was like, ‘Don’t let me get two’. And then I was like, ‘Don’t let me get three’. And then I was like, ‘I might as well break now’. I got pretty lucky there, honestly.”
The Australian, who claimed his maiden Masters 1000 title in Montreal, battled back in the third set to keep the match alive. But Tiafoe played clean tennis throughout — making just 17 unforced errors — to shrink his opponent’s margin for error.
[ATP APP]Tiafoe loves the spotlight and he once again used the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd to help push past a challenging opponent, whom he had never previously faced in a match. Early in the second-set tie-break, the 2022 semi-finalist hit a forehand passing shot and immediately pointed to the fans like a showman.
Popyrin, who was competing in the fourth round of a major for the first time, double-faulted to lose serve in the fourth set. He had a tremendous look at a forehand passing shot inside the court to get back on serve when Tiafoe served for the match, but missed into the net.
Tiafoe’s next opponent, Dimitov, eliminated sixth seed Andrey Rublev earlier in the day. The Bulgarian leads Tiafoe 3-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, but they have played just once since 2019.
“Obviously he’s so talented. He’s been one of the most talented players for a very, very long time,” Tiafoe said. “He’s playing great in the later stages of his career and he’s starting to find great form again. So it’s going to be really, really tough. He can hit all the shots. I’m going to make him fight for it and earn it and I’m sure he is, too. I hope you guys are with me there as well.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Jack Draper bids for a first Grand Slam quarter-final as he faces Czech Tomas Machac at the US Open on Monday.
Defending champion Coco Gauff loses to fellow American Emma Navarro in the fourth round of the US Open.