US Open: Play goes on until 2am as Maria Sakkari beats Bianca Andreescu
The US Open has put on one of the most insane days of tennis in recent memory with play stretching all the way until 2:13am local time. And it ended in absurd fashion.
The US Open has put on one of the most insane days of tennis in recent memory with play stretching all the way until 2:15am local time.
It took Maria Sakkari 3h30m to beat Bianca Andreescu 6-7(2) 7-6(6) 6-3 secure her place in the quarter-finals.
The Canadian sixth seed was limping with a left thigh injury in the final games before suffering her first US Open loss
The match finished at 2:13am local time, the latest finish of a women’s singles match at the US Open.
The previous record was Madison Keys and Alison Riske in 2016, which finished at 1:46am.
Apologising to the crowd, Sakkari said: “I hope you’re not late to work tomorrow because I will be in trouble for that.
“But thank you for staying that late, go get some sleep!”
Sakkari has lost so many close matches in 2021, but she comes through an EXTRAORDINARY one 6-7 7-6 6-3 over Queen of Drama Andreescu at 2:13am!
— The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) September 7, 2021
She looked like she could go for several more hours.
Tough to see Andreescu struggling with a leg injury down the stretch.#USOpen
Impossible to capture the absurdity of this. It’s gone 2am. Most of the crowd has left. Andreescu is on one leg and STILL hitting winners on the run. Sakkari is trying desperately to cross the finish line and overcome some demons. #USOpen
— The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) September 7, 2021
Incredible stuff what just happened in the last 3h30 on Ashe.
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) September 7, 2021
Sakkari into the QF
Andreescu loses for the first time at the #USOpen, will drop to #20 in the rankings
🇨🇦 Andreescu and 🇬🇷 Sakkari have now become the 5th longest women's singles match at the #USOpen since they began keeping track in 1970.
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) September 7, 2021
DJOKOVIC PUSHED HARD BY UNKNOWN LOAL HERO
Novak Djokovic’s journey to a calendar Grand Slam is encountering no end of obstacles, the latest being an unknown American by the name of Jenson Brooksby.
Djokovic struggled but advanced within three matches of completing the first men’s singles calendar-year Grand Slam in 52 years.
Brooksby stunned the world No 1 claiming the first set 6-1 before forcing a 20 minute game on Djokovic’s serve to break the Serb at 3-2 in the second.
While the Arthur Ashe crowd was loving their home talent, Djokovic was less enthused, staring down the 20-year-old on each point won.
Brooksby’s mindset alone makes him elite, let alone his interesting combination of consistent counterpunching tools mixed with the ability to flatten out the forehand when needed
— Matthew Willis (@mattracquet) September 7, 2021
“Like a chess player, he is sneaky good,” said Brad Gilbert about the young American.
“He’s crafting this shots so intelligently.
“Novak needs to make Jenson work. Don’t extend the points.”
But the world number one rallied past 99th-ranked Brooksby 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to book a quarter-final encounter with Italian sixth seed Matteo Berrettini in a rematch of July’s Wimbledon final.
“It’s going to be exciting,” Djokovic said. “He loves the big stage. Big serve, big game overall. I know what to expect. Going to try to prepare a good game plan and hope for the best.”
First he takes your legs ……. Then he takes your soul
— andyroddick (@andyroddick) September 7, 2021
Relatively unknown before taking on Djokovic, Brooksby is ranked 99 in the world and has a total career earning of $430.
Before his clash with Djokovic he had not faced a player ranked higher than 26 since 2020.
It pails in significance to Djokovic’s No 1 status, 20 grand slams and $151m fortune.
“He just played a perfect first set,” Djokovic said. “I could do nothing. I was still finding my footing on the court.
“I must say it wasn’t a great start. Jenson was pumped. He had a clear game plan. He was executing his shots tremendously. I was on my back foot. He was reading the play well for a set and a half.”
The 34-year-old Serbian star would become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to sweep all four major titles in the same year by capturing his fourth career US Open crown.
Djokovic also seeks a men’s singles record 21st Slam trophy, which would boost him one ahead of “Big Three” rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, both absent with injuries.
Djokovic has 99 problems & Jenson Brooksby is all of them right now 👀
— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) September 6, 2021
Incredible effort from the World No. 99 🙌 #USOpenpic.twitter.com/snLt6LTdVw
Brooksby 6-1 Djokovic. 😳
— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 6, 2021
Expect the unexpected this #USOpenpic.twitter.com/pmE8iEsHnB
THE TEEN SENSATION TAKING OVER NEW YORK
At Arthur Ashe Stadium yesterday (Monday) the most recent British woman to win the US Open hailed the player who looks increasingly likely to become the next.
Virginia Wade, the 1968 champion, rose to her feet in the stands and applauded yet another astonishing performance by Emma Raducanu. From 2-0 down in her fourth-round match, the 18-year-old Briton, ranked No 150 in the world, won 12 of the last 13 games to beat the world No 43, Shelby Rogers of the United States, 6-2, 6-1 in little more than an hour.
Raducanu started her New York journey in the first round of qualifying 13 days ago and has not dropped a set in seven matches. She is only the third qualifier to reach the US Open quarter-finals in the open era, joining Barbara Gerken (1981) and Kaia Kanepi (2017).
It will still take something quite extraordinary for Raducanu to lift the trophy this year, as tomorrow (Wednesday) she plays Belinda Bencic, the world No 12 from Switzerland, who won singles gold at the Tokyo Olympics and has also not dropped a set in New York. But there is no doubt that Raducanu is a player capable of going all the way here at some point in her career.
“Thank you for watching my match,” Raducanu said on court afterwards, directly addressing Wade. “I really appreciate it. You are an absolute legend. I am majorly honoured to have you here. I am just going to try my best each round and see how far I go.”
In the commentary box the praise flowed for Raducanu. “She was very comfortable and very solid out there,” Chris Evert, the 18-times grand-slam champion, told viewers on ESPN. “We saw her power, her coming to the net and her skill set. She was delightful.”
Martina Navratilova, analysing the match for Amazon Prime, said: “She is a superstar in the making. You saw it with Novak Djokovic, you see it with [the 18-year-old Spaniard] Carlos Alcaraz, Martina Hingis as well. It’s there. They are born for it. If the body is willing, everything else is there.”
This was the first time that Raducanu had appeared on the main show court at a grand-slam tournament – she was not scheduled on Centre Court during her run to the last 16 at Wimbledon – and how she rose to the occasion.
Having had her first look at this 23,000-capacity stadium during a practice session in the morning, she walked out for her match in the afternoon with a smile on her face to greet a warm welcome from the respectful crowd.
Raducanu was understandably a little nervous at the beginning and she dropped her serve in the opening game. Playing with the benefit of the home support as the last remaining American in the women’s draw, the 28-year-old Rogers appeared comfortable on the court and raced to a 2-0 lead.
Then came an astounding turnaround. Rogers failed to take two break points in the next game and Raducanu held her serve to get on the board at 1-2. Suddenly it was Rogers who looked ill at ease as Raducanu found her range with the powerful groundstrokes that are such a staple of her game.
Raducanu was relentless from this point onwards. She moved 5-2 up and sealed the first set in style on the Rogers serve with a forehand winner. The second set lasted only 29 minutes. Rogers looked stunned at how the match had got away from her and struggled to win points on her serve as Raducanu kept up the barrage to move to within one game of a 6-0 set for the second straight match. To Rogers’s relief, she managed to take the penultimate game.
With the opportunity to serve out the match, Raducanu converted her fourth match point, drawing the error from Rogers. She fell to her knees in disbelief after becoming the youngest Briton to reach a US Open quarter-final since an 18-year-old Christine Truman finished runner-up in 1959.
“It feels absolutely amazing,” Raducanu said. “Shelby is a great opponent who has had a great week. I knew it was going to be a tough match. I am so happy to come through and overcome some of the nerves at the beginning.”
Asked by the on-court interviewer, Pam Shriver, if the success of other teenagers here had spurred her on, Raducanu replied: “It definitely plays a part. I wanted to join them in the next round. Everyone is on their own trajectory. I am just so happy to focus on my game and get into the quarter-finals.”
It is likely that Raducanu will need to raise her level again tomorrow (Wednesday). Bencic reached the semi-finals here two years ago and is the first top-40 opponent she will face in her professional career. “Belinda is in great form,” Raducanu said. “I know I’m going to have to bring it.”
This article was published in The Times
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