FLUSHING MEADOWS – Just like Catherine Deneuve was “The beauty of the day” in her iconic 1967 French movie Belle de Jour, Maria Sharapova might as well be considered “The beauty of the night” at Flushing Meadows. Sharapova is 23-0 under the lights on Arthur Ashe Stadium and the Russian superstar seems ready to add another victory to her incredible record as she is facing Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain in tonight’s session.
Sharapova burst on to the tennis scene in 2004 when she captured the Wimbledon title at only 17 years of age stunning the overwhelming favorite Serena Williams in the final. Maria went on to win other four Grand Slam titles, which is a remarkable achievement even if many had predicted that Sharapova was going to be at the top of the women’s game more consistently. After defeating Serena for a second time in the 2004 WTA Finals at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Sharapova lost 18 consecutive matches to Williams in what has become one of the most one-sided rivalries in recent history. Nevertheless, it’s ironic how the two have never faced each other in New York under the lights.
Sharapova’s infamous 18-month doping suspension has also contributed to the ups and downs of her career: The Russian dropped from No. 7 to No. 262 in the world rankings. In 2017, her comeback was far from brilliant, with only one title in a small tournament played in Tianjin, China. While her legion of fans thought that Sharapova could have easily climbed back to the top ten in a few months, coming back to a full-time schedule has been very difficult for the Russian.
Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams are the only active players to have completed the Career Slam, but Sharapova’s last major title was at Roland Garros in 2014. This year in New York, Sharapova has been flying under the radar as the No. 22-seed. Her recent results have been quite disappointing with a first-round loss to Diatchenko at Wimbledon and a straight-set defeat against Garcia in Montreal. If Maria prevails over Suarez Navarro tonight, she will face the winner of Cibulkova-Keys.
It is important to mention that the last seven Grand Slam tournaments have been won by seven different women: Serena Williams, Ostapenko, Muguriuza, Stephens, Wozniacki, Halep and Kerber. If the winner of this year’s US Open is neither Serena nor Stephens, we will have eight different Grand Slam champions in two years for the first time since 1937-38.
In the men’s tournament, the big favorites Djokovic, Federer and Nadal are still in contention to win the title. Federer is the only player yet to drop a set, while Djokovic and Nadal have dropped two each. Roger is yet to be seriously tested in this tournament and I doubt that his round of 16 opponent John Millman will represent a big challenge tonight. This could be an advantage for the Swiss maestro, who will be very fresh for the final matches of the event.
We are certainly headed towards the highly anticipated quarterfinal clash between Federer and Djokovic. Today the Serb will face João Sousa – the first Portuguese player in history to reach the round of 16 at the US Open.
After the No. 4-seed Alexander Zverev was sent home by his older countryman Philip Kohlschreiber, yesterday the No.5-seed and last year’s runner-up Kevin Anderson was upset by Dominic Thiem in straight sets. The 26-year-old Austrian will compete in his first Grand Slam quarterfinal outside of Roland Garros, where he has already reached two semifinals and a final. 32-year-old Anderson seemed fatigued after the five-set marathon against Denis Shapovalov in the previous round.
Thiem’s quarterfinal opponent will be none other than Rafa Nadal in an unusual hard-court battle. The two have already faced each other on clay on numerous occasions, with Rafa leading 7-3. Not too many players can say to have beaten Nadal on clay three times though and it will be very interesting to see how Thiem will fare against the Spaniard tomorrow. It should be better for Thiem to play Rafa on a slow hard-court than on clay.
In my opinion, the biggest surprise of Sunday was the fact that there were no tie-breakers in the five-set battle won by John Isner against Milos Raonic – the two biggest servers on the ATP Tour. At 33 years of age, Isner amazingly proved to be in better physical shape than the 27-year-old Canadian.
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – www.t-lglobal.com )
