'Very different' Draper bids for first Grand Slam quarter-final
Jack Draper bids for a first Grand Slam quarter-final as he faces Czech Tomas Machac at the US Open on Monday.
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.
Alexander Zverev qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the seventh time on Sunday when he advanced to the US Open quarter-finals with a victory against Brandon Nakashima. The season finale will take place at Inalpi Arena from 10-17 November.
The German has earned his place at the prestigious year-end championships in seven of the past eight seasons. He is a two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion, having lifted the trophy in 2018 and 2021.
The 2x CHAMP is back! 🎟️
See you in Turin, @AlexZverev 👋
#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/Y6HSYKvzPe— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 1, 2024
Only two active singles players have won the tournament more than once: record seven-time champion Novak Djokovic and Zverev, who in 2018 defeated Roger Federer in the semi-finals and Djokovic in the final to earn the crown. Only 10 players have triumphed at the event more than once in the event’s history (since 1970).
[ATP APP]Zverev leads the ATP Tour in wins during the 2024 season with 56 according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. The 27-year-old has enjoyed a consistent season, including his sixth ATP Masters 1000 triumph in Rome. He also made his second major final at Roland Garros and another championship match on home soil in Hamburg.
Zverev owns a 14-9 record at the Nitto ATP Finals and in addition to his titles in 2018 and 2021, he also advanced to the semi-finals in 2019.
The German is the second singles player to qualify for this year’s Nitto ATP Finals, joining Jannik Sinner. Marcelo Arevalo/Mate Pavic and Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos have qualified in doubles.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Alexander Zverev moved closer to capturing his first major title at the US Open on Sunday when he ended American Brandon Nakashima’s run to reach the quarter-finals in New York for the fourth time.
The German dictated after a slow start on Louis Armstrong Stadium to earn a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win. With his two-hour, 38-minute triumph, Zverev notched his 450th win.
“I was extremely defensive at the beginning of the match and Brandon used it very well and played an awesome set,” Zverev said. “I knew that I had to step up my game and take the ball on the rise more and I did well today and I am happy to be back in the quarter-finals.”
A special achievement for @AlexZverev 💪
The No. 4 seed sees off Nakashima 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-2 to reach his fourth consecutive #USOpen quarter-final! pic.twitter.com/G3xnacYuoX
— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 1, 2024
Zverev looked on course for a comfortable win in the fourth set when he almost turned his right ankle when chasing a ball down on the forehand wing at 3-1. Despite showing a look of anguish on his face after the point, Zverev showed little sign of discomfort following the brief scare, winning three of the next four games to advance. The 27-year-old injured his right ankle during his semi-final match against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros in 2022 and missed the rest of the season.
Fit and firing again, the fourth seed is chasing his maiden Grand Slam trophy. Zverev, currently No. 2 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, lost in a deciding-set tie-break to Dominic Thiem in the 2020 US Open final and fell in the Roland Garros championship match to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets earlier this year.
[ATP APP]After Nakashima held his own in the first set, Zverev timed the ball cleanly in sets two, three and four to generate easy power. The 22-time tour-level titlist won 89 per cent (51/57) of his first-serve points against Nakashima, who was aiming to reach his first major quarter-final.
Zverev’s reward for improving to 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with the former Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion is a meeting against American Taylor Fritz.
“I am expecting a tough battle,” said Zverev on facing Fritz, who beat the German at Wimbledon. “Every time I play Taylor it is a tough battle and I am expecting nothing less and hopefully it will be entertaining.”
Zverev is seeking his second title of the season, having clinched his sixth ATP Masters 1000 crown in Rome. The fourth seed has earned a Tour-leading 56 wins in 2024 and is second in the PIF ATP Live Race to Turin.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Can Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson complete a Grand Slam redemption story at the US Open?
The Australian duo booked its quarter-final spot at the hard-court major on Friday afternoon with a 7-6(3), 6-3 triumph against Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral. Purcell and Thompson did not face a break point in their 86-minute triumph on Grandstand, where they struck 32 winners to Borges and Cabral’s 18.
Seeded seventh at Flushing Meadows, Purcell and Thompson are chasing their maiden Grand Slam title as a team. The pair held three championship points at Wimbledon in July before falling to a heartbreaking loss to Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten. They have lifted three ATP 250 trophies together this year, however, and the pair is currently up one spot to seventh in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings as it chases a spot at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.
[ATP APP]Standing in Purcell and Thompson’s way in the last eight in New York are top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. The Spanish-Argentine duo defeated Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti 6-2, 6-2 in a 62-minute third-round encounter.
In the bottom half of the draw, 10th seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz ousted fifth seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(4). The German pair, which has already reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, will take on second seeds Rohan Bopanna/Matthew Ebden or 16th seeds Maximo Gonzalez/Andres Molteni in the last eight.
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Grigor Dimitrov reaches the US Open quarter-finals for the first time since 2019 with a five-set victory over Andrey Rublev.
Andrey Rublev was on the brink of elimination at this year’s US Open in the second round. He came back from two sets down against Arthur Rinderknech for a five-set victory in hot and sticky conditions in New York. Surviving the encounter has now led to a golden opportunity this weekend as we approach the halfway point of the final Grand Slam of the 2024 season.
“It was a turning point because you kind of think you’re out,” explained Fernando Vicente, Rublev’s coach, to ATPTour.com. “Watching the match on court, it was a very hot day, and he was in deep trouble. Andrey was very strong physically and he managed to pull through, and the other matches were a little better.
“In Grand Slam tournaments, there are always days like that, where you have to come back or play long matches. As I say, he did well; his body held up, as did his mind, and he was able to celebrate victory. I think he looks good.”
[ATP APP]Having seen off Rinderknech and then beaten Jiri Lehecka in the third round, Rublev will on Sunday face Grigor Dimitrov for a place in the quarter-finals. The 26-year-old Rublev holds a slender 4-3 lead in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
“He’s looking good coming into the match against Dimitrov. I think against Lehecka he played a very solid match, even though he dropped his serve a couple of times in the third set and things got tough, he coped with it very well,” reflected Vicente, whose charge is the current No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings. “I think he’s physically well, feeling confident.
“He’s had a good American swing, it’s going pretty well. Obviously you can always do better, but he reached the final in Canada, quarters in Cincinnati and now he’s playing well here. He’s ready, we’ll see what happens.”
Match of the Day 🎾@AndreyRublev97 🆚 @GrigorDimitrov
2 players who can dominate matches with their forehands ⚠️
A look back at their Shanghai (SF) ’23 meeting shows often (44 plays to 25) and how effective (24 #WinningPlays to 6) Rublev was with his forehand from the middle… pic.twitter.com/zPWbBU8X6A
— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) September 1, 2024
With two titles under his belt in 2024 (Hong Kong and Madrid), Rublev has had a season with plenty of positives and few negatives. According to his coach, though, his season has had a little of everything.
“Looking back at the year… It still hasn’t finished, but there’s been a bit of everything: there have been some good weeks and others not so good,” said Vicente. “It seemed like we were playing well at the start of the year, confidently, but then things got difficult. He lost confidence at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, two matches we weren’t expecting. Not so much in terms of his game, but mentally.
“Knowing Andrey, he always has some weeks like that. He’s working with a psychologist, doing things better, and we’ll see what happens. The highlight of the year, of course, was winning in Madrid. We weren’t expecting it because he was unwell and he managed to win an ATP Masters 1000.”
Rublev’s run in the Spanish capital, where he won the second Masters 1000 title of his career after his Monte-Carlo win in 2023, was complicated by a bout of tonsilitis. Coming through such adversity to triumph in early May in Madrid is one of the main reasons Rublev currently sits sixth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.
“We keep a close eye on the Race, and he’s in the battle to finish the year qualifying for the [Nitto] ATP Finals, that’s the real goal,” said Vicente. “As well as being able to attack the final rounds of a Grand Slam as well as possible.”
Dimitrov is the only player now standing between Rublev and a return to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam, a round he has never surpassed at any of the majors. If he can overcome the Bulgarian on Sunday in New York, Rublev will have another chance to set that record straight.
Editor’s note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es
[NEWSLETTER FORM]
The “unusual” head clash that left Wimbledon men’s doubles champions Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara with concussion before 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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