New York - 09/08
Good morning and welcome back to TIE-Breakfast: all the tennis you need with your coffee.
Ace Cream's daily newsletter during Masters 1000s and Grand Slams, every morning at 8:30.
Today is Tuesday, September 8, in New York it's 02:30 and it's 18 degrees. Okay, let's go.
Today at breakfast
- 🇨🇳 Zheng comes back from 0-5 again, knocks out Swiatek
- 🇰🇿 Rybakina gets past Osaka, sees No. 1 in sight
- 🇧🇪 Blockx becomes first Belgian man in the quarters at Flushing Meadows
- 🇮🇹 Zverev stops Darderi, no Italians left in the quarters
- 🇳🇱 Van de Zandschulp comes back to beat Gea in five hours and thirteen minutes
- 🇺🇸 Gauff back in the quarters three years later
WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY:
🇨🇳 Zheng Comes Back From 0-5 Again, Knocks Out Swiatek
Zheng Qinwen beat Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-3 on Arthur Ashe after falling behind 0-5 in the first set. She won seven games in a row and saved three set points, two on the Pole's serve at 5-1 and one at 5-3.
Two days earlier, against Madison Keys, she'd come back from 0-5 in the third set with the same run of seven straight games. Zheng made the draw through qualifying after a season disrupted by injury, and she's the first qualifier to reach the last eight at Flushing Meadows since Emma Raducanu in 2021. More than the scoreline, it's the speed of these turnarounds in matches that look already decided that stands out.
🇰🇿 Rybakina Gets Past Osaka, Sees No. 1 In Sight
Elena Rybakina beat Naomi Osaka 6-1, 6-4, hitting twenty-nine winners to nine and winning 87% of points on her first serve. It's her first quarterfinal in New York.
The first set lasted just over twenty minutes, then a break midway through the second settled it. She faces Zheng in the quarters, whom she's beaten in four of their five meetings, and a win would take her to world No. 1 for the first time. She'd never gone past the fourth round in New York before.
🇧🇪 Blockx First Belgian Man In The Quarters At Flushing Meadows
Alexander Blockx beat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in just over three hours and becomes the first Belgian man to reach the quarterfinals at the US Open. He played almost the entire match with a rib injury: "From the second game I started feeling a really sharp pain," he said afterward, "I just tried to hang on."
Karen Khachanov awaits him in the quarters, having beaten Learner Tien 7-5, 4-6, 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-4 after trailing two sets to one. The rib injury shifts the question from Blockx's level to how much he has left in his legs, and the next round usually answers that fast.
WHAT HAPPENED OVERNIGHT:
🇮🇹 Zverev Stops Darderi On The Ashe
Alexander Zverev beat Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-2, 7-6(3) with thirteen aces. It was Darderi's first fourth round at the US Open.
The first two sets were over quickly, with the Italian never able to stretch the rallies the way he had in Rome in May, when he saved four match points against the German. He held on through the third to a tiebreak, closed out by Zverev 7-3. His exit means no Italians left in the draw, and Zverev faces van de Zandschulp in the quarters.
🇳🇱 Van De Zandschulp Comes Back To Beat Gea In Five Hours And Thirteen Minutes
Botic van de Zandschulp beat Arthur Gea 3-6, 6-7(0), 7-6(7), 7-6(3), 6-4 in five hours and thirteen minutes, the fourth-longest match in US Open history. Down two sets to love, he saved a match point in the third-set tiebreak.
Gea had entered the draw as a lucky loser after losing the deciding qualifying round to Nishesh Basavareddy, brought back in for Casper Ruud's withdrawal, and a win would have made him the first lucky loser ever to reach a Slam quarterfinal. He also served for the match in the fourth set. Van de Zandschulp plays the quarterfinal against Zverev on almost no recovery time, which at this stage of the tournament matters as much as the draw itself.
🇺🇸 Gauff Into The Quarters Three Years Later
Coco Gauff beat Iva Jovic 6-1, 6-4 in the night session on the Ashe and returns to the New York quarterfinals for the first time since her 2023 title. Jovic is eighteen.
Gauff hasn't dropped a set in this tournament. She faces Mirra Andreeva in the quarters, who beat Anastasia Potapova 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 earlier in the day, with the Russian slowed by a knee problem in the last game. Gauff arrives there in a half of the draw where Swiatek and Osaka both went out on the same day.
WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY:
- Sabalenka vs Noskova - Ashe, from 17:30 Italian time. The defending US Open champion against the Wimbledon champion, first of the day's two women's quarterfinals.
- Tiafoe vs Michelsen - Ashe, not before 19:00. Michelsen hasn't dropped a set in the tournament and is into his first Slam quarterfinal, Tiafoe arrives off a near three-hour battle with Medvedev. Either way, an American reaches the semifinal.
- Pegula vs Navarro - Ashe, night session from 01:00. Pegula has never lost to Navarro in four meetings, and one of them will be in the semifinal.
- Shelton vs Alcaraz - Ashe, to follow overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday. The most anticipated quarterfinal of the day, and the winner faces Tiafoe or Michelsen.
Further reading
- Too much Zverev for Luciano Darderi. The Italian falls in three sets and bows out of the US Open
- Sensational Zheng Qinwen: the queen of comebacks eliminates Iga Swiatek
- Rybakina reaches the quarterfinals at the US Open: the Kazakh is one match from world No. 1
- Zheng: "Nothing is given to you in sport. I never stopped believing in myself"
- Alexander Blockx makes Belgian history, reaches US Open QFs
- Botic van de Zandschulp wins historic U.S. Open match while preventing even more history from being made
Enjoy your breakfast, and have a good day.
See you tomorrow at 08:30 with TIE-Breakfast
