Del Potro and Thiem enchant the New York crowd with two incredible final sets. Rublev is quietly advancing to the final stages. Four American girls reach the quarters, but in my opinion Kvitova will prevail at the end.
NEW YORK, FLUSHING MEADOWS – Finally, Karolina Pliskova won a match playing like the No. 1 player in the world: 6-1, 6-0 over Brady in 46 minutes. The Czech showed tremendous progress compared to her previous round, when she was one point from elimination against Zhang Shuai. Pliskova must reach the final to protect her number one ranking: She will face Vandeweghe in the quarterfinals on Wednesday and eventually the winner of Keys-Kanepi in a potential semifinal. Keys advanced to the quarters upsetting Svitolina and at the same time eliminating the Ukrainian from the race to become world No. 1 at the end of the tournament. The two remaining contenders for the No. 1 spot are now Pliskova and Muguruza.
Finally, CoCo Vandeweghe’s Grand Slam results are living up to the American’s enormous potential this year. Her US Open record was miserable, with four eliminations in the first round and three in the second. On Labor Day Monday, CoCo prevailed 6-4,7-6 over Safarova, after sending Radwanska back to Poland in the previous round.
Finally, 32-old-year Kaia Kanepi re-emerged from the ashes and is now playing some good tennis again. After suffering from mononucleosis and dealing with plantar fasciitis in both feet, last year the powerful Estonian almost threw in the towel. This will be Kanepi’s sixth appearance in a Grand Slam quarterfinal, after starting the tournament ranked No. 418 and advancing to the main draw through the qualies. She is only the second qualifier in history to reach the quarterfinals. Kanepi and Keys played against each other so long ago that it is not even worth considering their head-to-head stats. This will be Keys’ third consecutive US Open quarterfinal.
Finally, Serena’s absence is providing the women’s tournament with renewed interest and curiosity. It is a wide “Open” tournament for real. In my opinion, Petra Kvitova, who doesn’t always perform up to her full potential, is probably the best of the current crop.
Finally, Rafa Nadal, who dominated Dolgopolov in the round of 16, is beginning to play his best tennis again. This was probably Nadal’s best performance since he won his tenth title at Roland Garros in June.
Finally, Roger Federer, who had already showed some substantial progress against Lopez, rediscovered his form in the round of 16 match against Kohlschreiber, despite a medical time-out that scared many Roger fans at the end of the second set when the Swiss was leading 6-4, 6-2. As soon as Roger sprinted back to the court and started jumping around, it was a sigh of relief for his countless supporters around the world. Roger will now face Del Potro in a blockbuster quarterfinal match: Federer lost the 2009 US Open final to the Argentine in a match that the Swiss maestro should have won in four sets. “I don’t remember much about that match, but I do remember that he played better than me in the fifth set. It is one of those matches that I would like to play again,” Roger said.
Finally, Del Potro managed to find the right medicine to defeat both Dominik Thiem and the flu, after saving two match points in the fourth set when Juan Martin was down 5-6, 15-40. During the match, it almost felt like the two contenders were playing in Buenos Aires instead of New York City, while the massive Argentinian contingency kept chanting “Olè, olè, olè delPo, delPo, delPo!” at the top of their lungs. Del Potro was suffering from a flu that prevented him from playing at his best in the first two sets of the match, but kept battling hard and hitting forehand bullets that slowly started to find their marks. A disoriented Thiem made the crucial mistake to let his debilitated opponent in the match at the beginning of the third set, which the Austrian ended up losing 6-1. In the fourth and fifth set the two players traded massive groundstrokes with breathtaking rallies until the Argentine closed out the best match of the men’s tournament with the score of 1-6, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6, 6-4.
Finally, American tennis is not only the Williams Sisters. Four of the eight women’s quarterfinalists are from the United States, which is a remarkable achievement considering Serena’s absence. CoCo Vandeweghe and Madison Keys are in the top half of the draw, while Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens are in the bottom section. Venus will have a tough task against an in-form Petra Kvitova, while on paper Stephens will probably have more chances against Sevastosa of Latvia, who upset Maria Sharapova a couple of days ago.
Finally, the young rising star Rublev – who is currently ranked No. 53 – seems ready to compete at the highest level unlike the much-vaunted Zverev and Shapovalov. Yesterday Rublev convincingly defeated David Goffin, even though the Belgian is a much more experienced player. The top half of the men’s draw is ensuring that we will at least have a very interesting and appealing finalist: whether it’s Nadal, Federer, Del Potro or Rublev, the victory of any of those four players could write a new exciting chapter in tennis history.
Finally, the bottom half of the men’s draw is proving to be the biggest disappointment of the tournament. On Tuesday afternoon, Carreno Busta was the first man to book a spot in the semifinals after a comprehensive 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 win against Schwartzman. The other quarterfinal will feature Kevin Anderson against Sam Querrey: The winner of that match will probably emerge as the finalist from the bottom section of the draw.
Finally, an American male player could reach the US Open final for the first time since 2006, when Andy Roddick lost to Roger Federer.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com)
