Nick Kyrgios has disenchanted defending champion Daniil Medvedev and reached the quarterfinals of the US Open for the first time. There is also Ons Jabeur for women.
Australia’s tennis star Nick Kyrgios disenchanted defending champion Daniil Medvedev and reached the quarterfinals of the US Open in New York for the first time. The Wimbledon finalist won the entertaining round of 16 against the Russian world number one on Monday night 7: 6 (13:11), 3: 6, 6: 3 and 6: 2.
This sets in Arthur Ashe Stadium the defending champion curse continued at the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. Since Roger Federer in 2008, no male tennis pro has triumphed again in the year after winning a title. Medvedev will also lose his lead in the world rankings after the event due to the knockout round. Kyrgios meets Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals.
Kyrgios again shows two sides
In the third set, Kyrgios caused one of the strangest point losses in history: after an unsuccessful defensive action by Medvedev, the ball flew high in the air, it would clearly have landed on the Russian side. But Kyrgios sprinted behind the net for fun and took the ball smirking volley before it touched the ground. Because this was not according to the rules, Medvedev got the point.
“Well that was… strange”, the organizers of the US Open tweeted, sharing a video of the scene. Kyrgios asked ex-professional in the subsequent break Patrick McEnroewho conducts the interviews on site, what he did wrong.
Kyrgios generally showed his two sides again. Highly concentrated in the first set and strong nerves in the tie break with two outstanding stops, undisciplined and erratic in the second set. But the world number 25. caught himself quickly and played his way into a little frenzy from the middle of the third set.
Berrettini and Ruud meet in the quarterfinals
Italy’s Matteo Berrettini, seeded at number 13, won the five-set thriller against the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina with 3:6, 7:6 (7:2), 6:3, 4:6, 6:2. With his youngest five Grand Slam-Starts, Berrettini has always reached at least the round of the top eight.
There waiting at the US Open the world ranking seventh Casper Ruud as an opponent. The 23-year-old won his round of 16 against the French Courentin Moutet 6:1, 6:1, 6:7 (4:7), 6:2 and was the first Norwegian in the history of the tournament to reach the quarterfinals.
Garcia continues to surprise with the women
For women, Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur faces Williams conqueror Ajla Tomljanovic in her first quarterfinals at the US Open. The Tunisian Jabeur prevailed in her round of 16 7: 6 (7: 1), 6: 4 against Weronika Kudermetowa. Tomljanovic (Australia), who had previously ended the career of 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams (USA), prevailed against Lyudmila Samsonova 7: 6 (10: 8), 6: 1.
In addition, Caroline Garcia continued her amazing triumph on the tennis tour and reached the quarterfinals. The recovered French defeated Alison Riske-Amritraj (USA) 6-4, 6-1. For the second time after the French Open 2017, Garcia (28) is in the top eight in a Grand Slam tournament. There she meets Coco Gauff (USA) or Zhang Shuai (China).
Already two Grand Slam successes in doubles
Garcia was world number four in September 2018 but has not been able to permanently establish himself among the top players. In this season, which had started extremely badly with a first-round defeat at the Australian Open, she made the connection again. First Garcia triumphed on grass in Bad Homburg, then she won on clay in Warsaw and finally on hard court in Cincinnati.
She had lost all three previous duels against Riske-Amritraj in two sets. With the self-confidence from recent successes, she left no doubt about her victory. Garcia is now one of the favorites to win the tournament in New York. She has already won two Grand Slam titles – but in doubles. In 2016 and this year she won the French Open in Paris with her compatriot Kristina Mladenovic.