By Dominique Olaleye
The US Open has once again kicked off in stylish fashion under the New York City lights. Week One of the final Grand Slam of the year has given us fantastic tennis, daring outfits, and its fair share of upsets. As we enter the second week in Flushing Meadows, Olympic gold and silver medallists Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will not be present. This means that for the first time in 22 years, none of the “Big Three” will have won a Grand Slam.
The ATP Event
The ATP side of the draw saw first-round losses for seeds Tabilo [22], Jarry [26], and Bublik [27]. We said goodbye to Austria’s Dominic Thiem, who won this event in 2020 and has had great rivalries against some of the greats of our sport. Thiem lost in straight sets to Shelton [13]. Diego Schwartzman lost to Gael Monfils in four sets after coming through qualifying and is a household name who has also announced his retirement.
Young Dane Holger Rune [15] surprisingly lost in straight sets to American Nakashima. Speaking after the match, Rune said he “played extremely bad tennis. No offence to his opponent.” However, Nakashima has shown that this was no fluke by advancing to week two and the fourth round after beating Italian Lorenzo Musetti [18]. Musetti has had a great season, making long runs at both Wimbledon and the Olympics, but 23-year-old Brandon Nakashima has cut his US Open run short. Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime [19], who has also been in good form recently, lost in straight sets to Czech player Jakub Mensik. The losing streak continued for Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas [11], who lost in four sets to Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis. The Greek player has been unable to find his form for a while now and has recently split from his coach, who also happens to be his father. He has been a subject of the press recently because of his visible frustration and high temperament. Finally, the first round also produced history in the hands of Dan Evans and Karen Khachanov [23] at the conclusion of their five-set thriller. Dan Evans, who could also be known as the “Comeback King”, came back from 4-0 down in the final set to win six straight games and the match. The match broke US Open history by becoming the longest match played there, with a total time of 5h35mins. This was a thriller to watch and concluded with a 22-shot point to finish the match.
In Round 2, 22-year-old Canadian beat Frenchman Arthur Fils [24] in four sets, while Machac beat 16th seed and American Korda. Jordan Thompson from Australia is having a great tournament, beating Hubert Hurkacz [7] in straight sets and hitting 13 aces in the match. Comesana overcame Humbert [17] and knocked out the seventeenth seed in four sets, and in a battle of the Argentines, Etcheverry beat Cerundolo [29] in a five-set epic. Fellow Argentine Sebastian Baez [21] was forced to retire against Tallon Griekspoor after only 55 minutes. The real shock of this round came from the defeat of Olympic silver medallist, current Wimbledon and French Open Champion, and World Number 3 Carlos Alcaraz. The young Spaniard lost to the unseeded Van de Zandschulp in straight sets. Alcaraz was a favourite entering the final Slam of the year after winning two out of three of the Grand Slams played so far this year. Carlos has said that he is “not mentally well”, and many believe that this is following his defeat in the Olympic final to Serbian Novak Djokovic.
The big matches and news of the third round came from Shelton [13] v Tiafoe [20] and Djokovic [2] v Popyrin [28]. The first of these matches provided a five-set marathon of a match, filled with aces, roars, and great sportsmanship. Lasting over four hours, the American compatriots entertained fans with their skills, with Tiafoe prevailing as victor for the first time that the two have played. In a match repeat from Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic faced Alexei Popyrin once again in the third round; however, on this occasion, Popyrin rewrote the ending. On the grass, Novak took the win in four sets, but in the “Big Apple”, Alexei was able to secure the win and upset the draw by taking out the second seed in four sets. Speaking in a press conference after the match, Novak commented that he felt “amateur at times” and although this has been his weakest season in 15 years in terms of results, he got the gold he has been craving.
Entering Round 4, Jannik Sinner [1] is still in the draw and dominating, with the next highest seed being Alex Zverev [4].
Round 4 matches are as follows:
Sinner [1] v Paul [14], Borges v Medvedev [5], Draper [25] v Machac, De Minaur [10] v Thompson, Ruud [8] v Fritz [12], Nakashima v Zverev [4], Rublev [6] v Dimitrov [9], Tiafoe [20] v Popyrin [28].
Though two of the current biggest names in the sport have now been knocked out, it is still all to play for. With former Olympic medallists and Grand Slam finalists still in the draw, will we have a familiar face return to the top, or will a new name lift the trophy?
The WTA Event
The WTA event had fewer upsets but still featured equally entertaining tennis. Seeded players Collins [11], Garcia [2], former finalist Fernandez [23], and Yastremska [32] all lost in their first-round matches. Ninth seed Maria Sakkari retired after a set, as we also saw the defeat of two former US Open champions. 2021 winner Emma Raducanu narrowly lost in three sets to a competitive Sofia Kenin in a tough first-round match-up. Jasmine Paolini [5] beat 2019 winner Bianca Andreescu in three sets for the third consecutive Grand Slam. Paolini will similarly hope to make it to the final for a third consecutive time too. The final big match-up was played between former Grand Slam champs Naomi Osaka and Jelena Ostapenko [10]. Both big hitters, on paper this match promised to be one of the ones to watch in the first round. Osaka took to the stage and performed at her best to beat Ostapenko comfortably in straight sets. Naomi also wowed the court with her style as she sported a bow-embellished dress designed by Yoon Ahn in collaboration with Nike. The inspiration for the dress is an ode to her country, Japan.
A shock in the second round came as Mirra Andreeva [21] lost to American Ashlyn Krueger in straight sets. This was a surprising result given Andreeva’s recent good form and performances in recent tournaments. Another unseeded American who caused an upset in the draw was Peyton Stearns, who overcame Daria Kasatkina [12] in straight sets. Former Wimbledon Champ Rybakina gave Ponchet a walkover as Pliskova retired against Paolini after only three points. Muchova gave a solid performance against Naomi Osaka in straight sets, who at first felt heartbroken about the loss before feeling an overwhelming sense of pride after looking at her daughter and the position she was in last year. Spain’s Bouzas Maneiro beat Britain’s Boulter [31] in a 7-5, 7-5 event. The biggest upset of the second round, however, came from unseeded Ruse beating current Wimbledon champion Krejcikova [8]. Romania’s Ruse was able to dominate against the Czech player, upsetting the draw in straight sets.
Round 3 narrowed the draw down as some players narrowly missed out on the second week at Flushing Meadows. Aryna Sabalenka [2] looked in confident and powerful form against Ekaterina Alexandrova [29]. Sabalenka has placed first for the highest average forehand topspin speed at this year’s competition so far. With speeds of 80mph, Aryna’s speed is higher than all three of the top ATP players (Sinner, Djokovic, and Alcaraz). Elise Mertens [33] beat crowd favourite Madison Keys [14] for the first time in three sets, as Haddad Maia [22] had too much for Kalinskaya [15] and beat her in straight sets. World Number 1 Iga Swiatek showed no discomfort in beating Pavlyuchenkova [25] – 6-4, 6-2. Wimbledon and French Open finalist Paolini [5] beat Putintseva [30] in straight sets, as Navarro [13] beat Kostyuk [19] in a close three-set battle. Navarro sets up a fourth-round match-up against fellow American Coco Gauff, who she beat at Wimbledon this year 6-4, 6-3. Gauff [3] struggled in the first set against Svitolina [27] but found her form in the third set to reach the fourth round as she looks to defend her title. Former Grand Slam champion Azarenka [20] lost in three sets to Wang.
With many of the seeds still in the draw, round 4 brings some interesting match-ups. With the top 3 WTA players still in the draw, who all currently hold Grand Slam titles, the tournament is still anyone’s game. This can especially be said with the likes of Paolini [5] and Pegula [6] still in the draw, not to mention Olympic gold and silver medallists Zheng [7] and Vekic [24], who are due to play each other in Round 4. Matches to look out for are as follows:
Swiatek [1] v Samsonova [16], Shnaider [18] v Pegula [6], Wozniacki v Haddad Maia [22], Muchova v Paolini [5], Badosa [26] v Wang, Navarro [13] v Gauff [3], Zheng [7] v Vekic [24], Mertens [33] v Sabalenka [2].
