Sinner & Medvedev avoid same fate as rivals at US Open
Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev ensure they avoid the same fate as Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz by steamrolling into the last 16 of the US Open.
Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev ensure they avoid the same fate as Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz by steamrolling into the last 16 of the US Open.
Fifth seed Daniil Medvedev restored order to the US Open evening session Saturday after the chaotic exits of former champions Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz the previous two nights.
The 28-year-old, who is now the only former champion remaining in the men’s field, denied a feisty challenge from young Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours, 18 minutes to set a fourth-round showdown with Portugal’s Nuno Borges.
[ATP APP]“I said it before the match that for me the upsets don’t really matter. The only thing [is when] the conditions are a bit tricky the favourites maybe have less margin than the other guys. Just have to be more cautious,” said Medvedev, who improved to 38-13 on the season [21-6 on hard courts].
“If I play good tennis I can win the whole thing. If I don’t play good I can lose against anyone.”
The players captivated fans inside Arthur Ashe Stadium with a series of spellbinding rallies, with Cobolli frequently forcing Medvedev to defend like an octopus with his gangly arms at full stretch and his trademark defensive skills tested to the limit.
Medvedev’s crisp deep-court returning kept Cobolli under pressure on serve throughout the match. The 2020 Nitto ATP Finals champion cultivated 20 break point chances, converting seven. While he dropped serve three times himself, Medvedev won a healthy 81 per cent of first serves and clipped 33 winners, including nine aces.
“It was a tough match. It was just a little bit up and down,” Medvedev said. “And at one moment I started playing much better on my serve than on his.
“It was a tricky match. Very very humid, very hot out there. I think it makes the conditions a bit slower because I was watching other matches before mine… it was a fun match to play. Crowd was pretty full, I feel, for such a late time. And I was enjoying myself.”
The former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings remains on track for a blockbuster quarter-final showdown with current No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who plays American Tommy Paul in the last 16.
Flavio Cobolli on X Games mode here in the third set 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4DnzxVSzB0
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 1, 2024
Should he win the title, Medvedev could climb to as high as No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings and to second place in the PIF ATP Race to Turin, as he seeks to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin from 10-17 November.
Medvedev has enjoyed a strong Grand Slam run in 2024, reaching the Australian Open final and the Wimbledon semi-finals, but he is still seeking his first title since winning the ATP Masters 1000 title in Rome in May last year.
The 2021 champion and two-time finalist has now reached the second week at Flushing Meadows six straight years.
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On back-to-back days Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic suffered stunning defeats at the US Open, sending shockwaves through the tennis world.
The players remaining in the draw, headlined by Jannik Sinner, were quick to credit their opponents and point out that losses are part of the sport.
“It shows that this sport is unpredictable. Whenever you drop a little bit of your level, if it’s mental, if it’s tennis-wise or physical, at the end it has a huge impact on the result. Both opponents who they lost against, they played some incredible tennis. And it happens,” Sinner said. “So I just watch on my side what I have to do, that I guess I have done also in last period of time, and then we will see what I can do.”
One player who was directly impacted by one of the upsets was 25th seed Jack Draper. The Briton was in the same section of the draw as Alcaraz. But instead, the lefty faced the Spaniard’s conqueror, Botic van de Zandschulp.
“I think both of them, [Carlos and Novak], obviously played the Olympic final. I think that’s taken a lot out of them. It’s taken a lot out of everyone, but they obviously made the finals, and it was emotional for both of them,” Draper said. “Obviously Novak, that was probably his biggest goal, and to come through that is obviously emotionally challenging to sort of have a rest and then come here.
“Same with Carlos as well. He’s achieved so much this year winning the French, Wimbledon. I’m not surprised that they’re probably feeling really tired and emotionally a bit drained. But I watched both the matches, and I thought Botic played an incredibly high level of tennis against Alcaraz.”
Draper took advantage, defeating van de Zandschulp in straight sets Saturday to reach the fourth round. While preparing for his own match, he saw the first two sets of Alexei Popyrin’s stunner over Djokovic.
“I didn’t honestly feel like Djokovic was playing incredibly badly. Maybe his serve was a bit below par, but I felt like Popyrin played an incredible match as well,” Draper said. “There are a lot of players on the tour at the moment who are really dangerous and on their day can play an amazing match against the best players in the world.”
Home favourite Tommy Paul joked he was hoping the Popyrin-Djokovic match would end earlier.
“I wanted to go to sleep. Today was the first day I used an alarm clock the whole tournament,” Paul said, cracking a laugh. “I think the guys that played Alcaraz and Novak both stepped up and played awesome. But, yeah, I feel like I had the Olympic fatigue, I guess at the right time, in Canada and Cincy, but now I’m feeling pretty good. I had a nice little reset. It’s a tough turnaround. We never go from grass to clay to hard so quickly.
“But I don’t want to take anything away from those guys. They earned those wins and they played awesome tennis. I’m happy for them. And Carlos and Novak have won quite a few tournaments, so I don’t feel too bad, I guess.”
[ATP APP]Australian Jordan Thompson, who also made the fourth round on Saturday, does not watch a tonne of tennis in general.
“But I’ve been glued to it recently. Last night when I wasn’t at dinner I was watching Pop [Alexei Popyrin] play,” Thompson said. “He was playing the greatest of all time and took him time. We’ve got Davis Cup around the corner, so the corner couldn’t be better. If I do watch someone, it’ll be someone that I like or another Aussie.”
Nuno Borges, who advanced to the Round of 16 for the first time, caught short bits of each upset.
“I thought they played great. Talking about Popyrin first, I know he’s been on a big confidence moment and he’s always been a very dangerous player to be honest. Maybe it didn’t feel like he was that close, but I’m sure he was… closer than people think. When his big serve is going, there’s not really much you can do sometimes,” Borges said. “It doesn’t surprise me. Novak can have an average day and then a few more mistakes than usual and all of a sudden he’s two sets down and anything can happen.
“Carlos, I think he’s paying a little bit the price of such a heavy summer too. He’s won so much and I’m sure he gave it all in the Olympic Games. Maybe he still hasn’t been able to fully recover mentally. That’s tennis. We’re expecting always so much from him, but you look back and he’;s still done some very, very good results.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Alex de Minaur moved back inside the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Live Rankings Saturday night after defeating an ailing Daniel Evans 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-0, 6-0 to advance to the US Open second week for the fourth time in his career.
The No. 1 Australian also became the first player from his country to reach the fourth round of all majors in the same season since Lleyton Hewitt 20 years ago. He joins countrymen Alexei Popyrin and Jordan Thompson, whom he faces next, in the second week.
”I’m super proud of what I’ve been able to achieve this year,” De Minaur said. “It’s been tough coming back from injury, but I’m so happy to be back here in New York playing these kind of matches. Let’s keep it going.”
[ATP APP]Evans came into the clash with a 3-0 lead in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series over the Australian and appeared to be digging into a dogfight after winning a second-set tie-break to level the match.
But De Minaur’s plan to make it a physical match proved telling in the third, when Evans began to suffer from a physical ailment, which required treatment from the physio. In the first round Evans survived a five-hour 35-minute match — the longest match in US Open history — in his epic victory over Karen Khachanov.
Despite not being able to compete at his best in the final two sets, Evans showed character by refusing to bow out through retirement.
“We should show a lot of respect for Dan. He’s the ultimate competitor,” De Minaur said. “He could have easily pulled out; the body obviously wasn’t feeling well. But he stayed out and tried his best and I really appreciate it.
”He’s had the better of me on many occasions, so I’m happy to get one on the board.”
In a match that featured 94 net approaches, De Minaur found more success in the forecourt, wining 34 of 44 approaches. He was sharp when Evans approached, nailing several passing shots among his match total of 56 winners.
Playing his first tournament since Wimbledon, where a hip injured forced his withdrawal ahead of a quarter-final with Novak Djokovic, De Minaur has strengthened his hold on eighth place in the PIF ATP Race to Turin, boosting his hopes of making his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals. But his immediate focus is on the great run of the Australian contingent and his looming match with Thompson, against whom he holds a 4-1 Lexus ATP Head2Head record.
“It’s so good for Australian tennis to show what we’re capable of,” De Minaur said. “Alexei putting on a show last night to beat Novak. Jordan playing some incredible tennis. It’s a pity we’ve got to play each other. I just need to say that we’re all from Sydney, so there’s something special out there.”
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On Friday night, Carlos Alcaraz was en route to the John F. Kennedy International Airport to return to Murcia after bowing out in the second round of the US Open to Botic van de Zandschulp, who defeated the Spaniard in three sets in one of the biggest upsets of the season.
Alcaraz, who posted a photo on social media bidding farewell to the fans at the tournament until next year, ended his participation in the 2024 Grand Slams on Thursday with a return that he surely would have taken at the start of the year.
Below, ATPTour.com reflects on the 21-year-old’s season at this year’s majors.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN: QUARTER-FINALS
Alcaraz arrived in Melbourne to play his first tournament on the calendar at the season’s first Grand Slam. He beat Richard Gasquet (first round), Lorenzo Sonego (second), Juncheng Shang (third) and Miomir Kecmanovic (last sixteen) before meeting Alexander Zverev in the quarters. In that round, German sent Spaniard packing after four sets, ending his title hopes.
“I honestly don’t know what happened,” Alcaraz said later. “I’d love to say what might have happened, but I wasn’t feeling my game at the start of the match, with a lot of errors that I wasn’t making in previous matches, and my serve was very bad too…” he added.
“These kinds of things shouldn’t happen to me; I can play well, I can play badly, but I can’t have zero feel in my shots, that can’t happen and it’s something we have to improve.”
FRENCH OPEN: CHAMPION
Up to the quarter-finals, Alcaraz enjoyed a relatively easy run in Paris, defeating J.J. Wolf in round one, Jesper de Jong in the second round, Sebastian Korda in the third, Felix Auger-Aliassime in the last sixteen and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarters. However, the semi-finals (Jannik Sinner) and the final (Zverev) were real dog fights that were decided in set five, and Alcaraz was just a set away from going home, as Sinner and Zverev both had the Murcia man on the ropes at 2-1.
“We’re still so excited to be here,” admitted Alcaraz. “I see videos of when I was young, here in Paris, under the Eiffel Tower, watching Roland Garros. And years later I’m lifting the Musketeers’ Trophy… they’re beautiful moments and it’s especially exciting for me.”
[ATP APP]WIMBLEDON: CHAMPION
Weeks after claiming the crown at Roland Garros, Alcaraz arrived in Wimbledon as the defending champion (he had beaten Novak Djokovic in 2023’s final).
After making easy work of the early rounds, sinking Mark Lajal and Aleksandar Vukic, the Spaniard came through a five-set tussle with Frances Tiafoe, who was just one set from victory. Against Uno Humbert, Tommy Paul and Daniil Medvedev, the world No. 3 needed four sets to progress, before facing Djokovic in the final, where he sealed his successful title defence in three sets.
“It’s a question of fighting and believing, I’m so happy to be at the same table as Djokovic,” said the Murcia native. “But I still don’t consider myself a champion of his stature.”
US OPEN: SECOND ROUND
Without a doubt one of the biggest upsets of 2024. Having got past Li Tu in the first round, where he dropped a set, Alcaraz was caught off-guard by a stunning performance from Van de Zandschulp, who played some brilliant tennis to send the 21-year-old 2022 US Open champion packing.
“Right now I feel like I’ve gone backwards mentally and I don’t understand why,” said Alcaraz. “I had a spectacular summer at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. I left those tournaments saying that I’d taken a step forward mentally. I’d realised that to win big things, to win Grand Slam titles, you have to be mentally strong,” added the Spaniard. “And now I’ve reached this swing and I’ve taken steps backwards, like I’m not doing well mentally, I’m not strong. I don’t know how to control myself when faced with problems and I don’t know how to handle it.”
In 2025, very soon, Alcaraz will be presented with four more chances to shine on the big stage.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Britain’s Jack Draper matches his best Grand Slam performance by beating Botic van de Zandschulp to reach the fourth round of the US Open.
Coco Gauff says she needs to maintain her focus throughout her US Open fourth-round tie against Emma Navarro after a shock defeat by her at Wimbledon.
Britain’s Joe Salisbury and American Rajeev Ram extend their US Open winning streak to 20 matches by reaching the men’s doubles third round.
As he almost always does, Casper Ruud has reached the last sixteen of the US Open without making too much of a splash. The Norwegian, who came back from two sets down on Friday to see off Juncheng Shang, will face Taylor Fritz (2-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head) on Sunday with a place in the quarters up for grabs.
With two ATP Tour titles to his name so far in 2024 (Barcelona and Geneva), Ruud now has a chance to stay in the fight for the big prizes at Flushing Meadows.
“I think it’s been a very positive year, he’s been very consistent in most tournaments, allowing him to have a stable place among the 10 best players and to keep growing as a player,” Pedro Clar, Ruud’s coach, told ATPTour.com. “The season is very long but we believe he’s in great form in terms of his game, his fitness, and mentally. You always have to take it match by match but you also have to believe you can do something big here at the US Open and in the remainder of the season.”
Ruud, of course, knows what it is to ‘do something big’ in the season’s final Grand Slam. In 2022, the current No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings reached the final, where he bowed out to Carlos Alcaraz in the match where the No. 1 spot was also at stake.
How has Ruud changed on hard court since the final two years ago?
“Although 2022 was the better year in terms of results, I think in terms of his game he’s a more complete player, because he’s managed to be more aggressive from the back of the court,” offered Clar. “He has more variety of shots on his backhand and he’s also improved a lot on the return. I think these things are key to being a better player on fast court,” continued the Spanish coach from the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.
“Another aspect I’d point to is the mental side. The fact that he has consolidated himself among the Top 10 for a few years now means he is training hard every day to improve every aspect of his tennis,” he continued. “The demands at this level are very high and you have to do that in order to stay there.”
[ATP APP]A professional since 2015, Ruud has managed to evolve his game from top to bottom, changing from a clay-court specialist to an all-round danger man, ready to be competitive on any surface.
“I think throughout all these years, he has progressed in every aspect, both in terms of his tennis, his fitness and mentally, but the tennis part is undoubtedly where he has progressed the most,” noted Clar. “When we started, Casper was more of a clay-court style player, his game was mainly based on a good serve and playing with his forehand, but as the years have gone by he has become a more complete and aggressive player,” explained the coach.
“In the end, you have to keep thinking and working to improve his game, because with the level on tour, if you don’t think, you get left behind.”
Ruud’s personality, his character and his values, have also been very important in his tennis journey. They are the key to player and coach enjoying such a good, healthy relationship after so long together.
“I’ve always said that coaching Casper is a privilege, both because of how he is on the court and how he is off it,” said Clar. “Of course, there is tension and goals that demand the utmost professionalism from the whole team, but the human side is always there, which makes everything easier from day to day,” he continued. “Since we started working together, we’ve always had a good feeling and trust in one another, and that has only grown as the years have passed, which is of great importance to me.”
Of course, this is a blessing if you gradually want to aspire to big things.
“He’s never reacted badly to anything and that shows how he is as a player and a person,” the Spanish coach explained. “Casper has some great values that were instilled by his family, I think you can see that on court and it characterises him as a player.”
– This story has been republished from ATPTour.com/es
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American Jessica Pegula underlines her US Open title credentials with a routine victory over Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the third round.