After the first-ranked and defending champion, Polish Iga Schwyvontec, left the US Open tennis tournament, observers thought that the time had come for Tunisian Anas Jaber, fifth in the world and runner-up in the last edition, to achieve her dream of crowning the first in the Grand Slam tournaments, but she shocked the fans of “Flushing Meadows” by falling in front of the Chinese Kenwen Qing 2-6, 4-6 into the final eight.
The Arab public, who had been placing their hopes on Jaber to win the American Championship, became puzzled by the reasons for the strange decline of the 29-year-old Tunisian champion in the decisive roles, who also reached the final match of Wimbledon, the third of the four major championships, in 2022 and 2023. Without taking advantage of the opportunity to win the title.
Jaber suffered in front of the Chinese Qing and bid farewell to Flushing Meadows (AP)
Jaber may have suffered in the first three rounds of the American Championship from the effects of a health ailment and physical fatigue, but with the progress of the competitions she showed a strong return, before she was unable to continue her career and compete with the promising Chinese (20 years old) and ranked No. 23 in the world, and thus the season of major tournaments ended on a painful reality. It would have been a lot better for the Tunisian.
“They support me no matter what,” said Anas Jaber, who had the support of the New York fans. This is actually what I need as an athlete. We hope to come back stronger next year and have the support of these amazing fans.”
Jaber was seen as the most fortunate to be crowned after Chivontec’s exit, but it seemed clear that the Tunisian was affected by her suffering in the first rounds, which she needed 7 hours and 6 minutes to overcome, including two matches of three groups, three tie-breaks and 91 games.
On the other hand, Cheng said, “If I want to beat a competition from adults, I must be strong and fierce. Of course I need to be able to defend a lot of balls and be an aggressive, powerful and balancing player. I’m glad I found the right balance to win this match.
Zverev celebrates his victory over Sinner in a marathon match (AFP)
The 23rd seed, Cheng, who described her victory over Anas as an “achievement”, added: “I always trust my ability to defeat any player if I present the level at which I should play. I think if I’m really fighting on every point, then things can happen.
American Madison Keys, the seventeenth, eliminated her third compatriot, Jessica Pegula, when she defeated her 6-1, 6-3.
Keys started the match strongly and advanced 3-0 by breaking her compatriot’s serve in the second half, before doing it for the second time in the sixth game, advancing 5-1, then ending the set easily in her favor 6-1 in 30 minutes.
And the tie imposed itself in the four games of the second set (2-2), before Keys managed to break Pegula’s serve in the fifth game, advancing 3-2, but the latter responded directly, equalizing 3-3.
Keys waited for the ninth game to break Pegula’s serve for the second time in the set and finished it 6-3 in 31 minutes.
Keys, runner-up in Flushing Meadows in 2017, set up a quarter-final date with the ninth Czech Marketa Vondrousova, this year’s Wimbledon champion, who beat other American Peyton Stearns 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 in two hours and 10 minutes.
It is the second victory for Vondrousova over Stearns in two confrontations that have brought them together so far, after the first in the second round of the English Wimbledon Championship. This is the first time that Vondrousova has reached the quarter-finals of Flushing Meadows in her professional career.
In the men’s competition, Spaniard Carlos Alcaras, ranked first in the world, successfully defended his American title by defeating Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
The 20-year-old Alcaras needed an hour and 57 minutes to achieve his first victory over the 22-year-old Arnaldi in their first confrontation.
The Spanish matador won the first set 6-3 in 32 minutes, after breaking the Italian’s serve in the sixth game. And Alcaras continued his superiority in the second set, breaking Arnaldi’s serve in the first and ninth games, and ending it in his favor 6-3 in 41 minutes.
Arnaldi succeeded in breaking Alcaras’ serve for the first time in the match, specifically in the third game of the third set, and advanced 2-1, but the matador responded directly, realizing the tie 2-2, before he did it in the tenth game and ended the group in his favor 6-4 in 44 minutes.
This is the third time in a row that Alcaras has reached the quarter-finals of “Flushing Meadows”, and he became the first player to achieve this achievement in his first three participations in the American Championship since 1980, and the second under-21 to do so after the American Andre Agassi.
Alcaras hopes to become the first player to successfully defend his title at Flushing Meadows since 2008, when Swiss legend Roger Federer won the title for the fifth year in a row.
“I am really happy with the performance in general,” Alcaras said after his victory. The game was strong from the beginning until the last ball, I played a really strong game, I made fewer mistakes.
The Spaniard, who will lose the top spot in the world rankings to Serbian Novak Djokovic at the end of the tournament, will meet German Alexander Zverev XII, who beat Italian Yannick Sener 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in a four-match match. 41 hours and 41 minutes.
Zverev achieved his second victory over the sixth-ranked Italian player in three years at Flushing Meadows, and qualified for the quarter-finals for the third time after the longest match in the US Open during his career.
Russian Andrei Rublev reached the same round by defeating Briton Jack Draper 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
This is the fourth time that Rublev has reached the quarter-finals in “Flushing Meadows” and the second in a row, and he also reached the same role in the other three major tournaments, including Australia and Wimbledon this year, but he never managed to reach the round of four.
Rublev will meet in the next round with his compatriot Daniel Medvedev III and the champion of the 2021 edition, after the latter’s victory over the 13th Australian Alex de Minor in four sets.
Third seed Medvedev came back from a set down to beat De Minaur 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in his quest to add his second US Open title after his first Grand Slam title in New York two years ago.
“There was a moment when I thought I wouldn’t be able to play to the end (because of the hot and humid weather), it was very difficult,” Medvedev said. But I looked across the net and noticed that it was also slowing down, so I thought I could do that.
This is the fourth time that the 27-year-old Medvedev, who won four titles on hard courts this season, has reached the quarter-finals of the US Open in five years.
2023-09-07 07:36:57
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