NEW YORK: Coco Gauff survived late-match drama to keep her US Open title defence alive with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Elina Svitolina on Friday.
Gauff’s third-set surge had carried her to a 5-2 lead and triple match point, but she delivered a pair of double faults and Svitolina saved another with a blazing backhand on the way to a break.
But Gauff broke Svitolina at love in the next game to lock up the win.
In a tense, physical encounter on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Gauff regrouped after a rocky end to the first set saw Svitolina break at love for a 5-3 lead and pocket the opener with a love game.
Gauff gained her first break of the match on her fourth opportunity for a 4-2 lead in the second and held on to force the third.
“I knew today was going to be a tough match — she’s a fighter,” Gauff said, saying more aggression on her forehand and fewer backhand errors helped her turn things around.
In other early matches, seventh-seeded Olympic gold medallist Zheng Qinwen of China, who rallied from a set down in each of her first two matches, dispatched Germany’s Jule Niemeier 6-2, 6-1.
“Finally it’s the first match I won in two sets,” she said.
The Olympic gold medalist and seventh seed fired off eight aces and seized five break points on the Grandstand hard court in her first straight-sets victory of the year’s final major.
Niemeier, nursing a foot injury, committed five double faults and held serve in just three games of the match that wrapped up quickly in an hour and 21 minutes.
Zheng was sharp from the start, blasting two aces to open the second game and breaking Niemeier’s serve in the fifth to seize control of the match and energize scores of Chinese chanting from the stands.
A cross-court forehand blast captured a second service break for the 2024 Australian Open runner-up as Niemeier’s forehand return found the net.
Zheng grabbed seven straight points to open the second set and cruised to the win, avenging a third-round loss to the German at her first US Open in 2022.
Spain’s Paula Badosa had to fight back for a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (10/8) victory over Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who had toppled Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova in the second round.
Alcaraz and Osaka crash out
The final Grand Slam of the year lost two of its biggest crowd-pullers on Thursday as former champions Carlos Alcaraz and Naomi Osaka were knocked out in the second round.
Alcaraz, the world number three and 2022 champion in New York, was stunned by Dutch world number 74 Botic van de Zandschulp 6-1, 7-5, 6-4.
The Spanish third seed was fully expected to extend his 15-match winning streak at the Grand Slams but the Wimbledon and French Open champion got off to a horrible start and never recovered.
Van de Zandschulp, the first Dutchman to defeat a player in the top three at a major since Richard Krajicek beat Pete Sampras in the 1996 Wimbledon quarters, will next play Britain’s Jack Draper.
“It was an incredible evening out here in my first time in the night session on Arthur Ashe,” he said. “I tried to stay calm. You have to keep your head against these guys otherwise they will take advantage.”
Osaka, who counts the 2018 and 2020 US Opens amongst her four career majors, slipped to a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) loss at the hands of 52nd-ranked Czech Karolina Muchova, another disappointing exit in what she has dubbed her “learning year” after coming back from a 15-month maternity break.
Muchova, a semi-finalist last year, will next play Russian Anastasia Potapova.
Women’s world number one Iga Swiatek charged into the third round, routing 217th-ranked Ena Shibahara of Japan 6-0, 6-1 to record her 55th match win of 2024. She plays unseeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova next.
Former champion Daniil Medvedev moved past Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-3, 6-2, 7-6, helped by his opponent’s 45 unforced errors, and will next play Italian Flavio Cobolli.
Sixth seed Jessica Pegula and 14th seed Tommy Paul boosted home hopes as both Americans advanced to the third round but compatriot Sebastian Korda crashed out.
Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2024
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