US Open: British qualifier Emma Raducanu makes history by reaching semis

NEW YORK—British teenager Emma Raducanu produced yet another exquisite performance to become the first qualifier to reach the U.S. Open semifinals on Wednesday, defeating Olympic champion Belinda Bencic 6-3 6-4 on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Down an early break, the Briton recovered swiftly to win four straight games to close out the first set in which she had seven forehand winners and three aces.

Like Raducanu, Bencic had reached the last eight without dropping a set in Flushing Meadows but on Wednesday she struggled with her first serve and misfired a pair of costly double faults in the opening set.

Raducanu maintained her momentum in the second set, fending off three break points in the second game. 

A frustrated Bencic handed Raducanu a break with a double fault in the fifth game and her frustration boiled over as the match progressed, with the Swiss smacking her racket to the ground. 

Down 0-30 in her final two service games, Raducanu kept her nerve on both occasions and soaked up the cheers of the New York crowd after triumphing in a nine-shot rally on the final point.

"Playing Belinda – she’s such a great opponent," Raducanu said. "Her ball speed definitely caught me off guard because she hits the ball so hard."

The 18-year-old, who reached the Wimbledon fourth round on her Grand Slam debut just two months ago, has so far won all 16 sets she has played from qualifying through to the semi-finals.

She is the second teenager to make an impact in the women's draw this week as 19-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez has also reached the last four.

"To have so many young players here doing so well just shows how strong the next generation is," added Raducanu, who delighted a number of young fans by taking selfies with them before she walked off court.

"Everyone is on their trajectory. I'm just here taking care of what I can control, and it's my own journey at the end of the day." (Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, additional reporting by Steve Keating, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

-reuters

Net gain: Williams into 9th US Open final, will face Osaka

NEW YORK — Serena Williams was a bit shaky at the start of her US Open semifinal.

For all of six minutes.

That’s how long it took her to drop the opening two games Thursday night (Friday in Manila). Williams spent the next hour playing flawlessly, particularly up at the net, grabbing 12 of 13 games to beat No. 19 seed Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-3, 6-0 and reach her ninth final at Flushing Meadows and 31st at all Grand Slam tournaments.

“I’ve been working hard on my volleys. I have won a few doubles championships, so I know how to volley,” Williams said with a laugh, before adding this punch line: “I just usually come in only to shake hands.”

With one more victory, Williams will earn her seventh US Open championship and her 24th major singles trophy, equaling Margaret Court for the most in tennis history. Williams already owns the mark for the most in the half-century professional era; Court won some of hers against amateur competition.

On Saturday, Williams will face No. 20 seed Naomi Osaka, a 20-year-old who is the first Japanese woman to reach a Grand Slam final.

Osaka saved all 13 break points she faced Thursday and defeated 2017 runner-up Madison Keys 6-2, 6-4.

Asked during her on-court interview how she managed to stave off all of those break chances, Osaka replied with a laugh, “This is going to sound really bad, but I was just thinking, ‘I really want to play Serena.’”

Why?

“Because she’s Serena,” Osaka said. “Like, what do you mean?”


Williams had lost in the semifinals in her previous two trips to New York — against Roberta Vinci in 2015 while bidding for a calendar-year Grand Slam, and against Karolina Pliskova in 2016.

A year ago, Williams missed the U.S. Open because she gave birth to her daughter, Olympia, during the tournament. She then dealt with complications related to blood clots.

The American returned to the tour in February and to Grand Slam action at the French Open in May, when she had to withdraw from the field with an injured chest muscle. At her second major back, Wimbledon, she was the runner-up.

Now comes a chance to take a title and become, a few weeks shy of turning 37, the oldest woman to win a Slam in singles.

“It’s honestly really incredible. A year ago, I was fighting for, literally, my life at the hospital after I had the baby,” Williams said, her voice wavering. “So every day I step out on this court, I am so grateful that I have an opportunity to play this sport, you know? So no matter what happens in any match — semis, finals — I just feel like I’ve already won.”

Sevastova was participating in a major semi for the first time at age 28. While she began the evening well enough in Arthur Ashe Stadium by turning in two error-free games for a quick 2-0 lead, that all soon changed.

The roof was closed hours earlier because of a forecast calling for rain and strong wind, and so the screams and applause reverberated through the place whenever spectators roared for Williams, during the pre-match introductions, when she stepped to the baseline to serve in the opening game, and then after nearly every point she won.

And there were plenty of those.

Total winners? Williams led 31-10 in that category. And Sevastova’s penchant for drop shots did not pay off: She lost three points in the first set alone with miscues that landed on the wrong side of the net.

“She got a little bit lucky, I think, on some breaks in the first set. Then she started feeling better. When she’s in front, it’s tough to play,” said Sevastova, who retired from tennis in 2013, then returned to the tour in 2015. “She stayed focused in the second set.”

The key for Williams, really, was something of a new wrinkle: moving forward as much as possible.

Sevastova changes speeds and angles a lot, which helped her eliminate defending champion Sloane Stephens in the quarterfinals. In order to avoid too many lengthy exchanges from the baseline, Williams and her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, thought it made more sense to press Sevastova.

It worked. And how.

Williams won 24 of the 28 points when she went to the net. Add that to her usual powerful baseline game and always superb serve, which reached 120 mph (194 kph), and this really was no contest at all.


“To come this far, so fast,” Williams told the fans afterward, “I’m just beginning, you guys.”

Osaka is at the beginning of what could be a marvelous career. She is the youngest woman to reach a U.S. Open final since 2009 and only has one tour-level title so far, which came on a hard court this season.

She was born in Japan, but moved to New York at the age of 3 and is now based in Florida. Her coach is Sascha Bajin, who used to be Williams’ hitting partner.

“Mom, I did it. I love you. Thank you,” Osaka said during her interview. Up in the stands, her mother put two thumbs up and applauded.

Encouraged to direct a message to Williams, Osaka said, “I love you,” then giggled and covered her face, before adding, “I love everybody.”

source: philstar.com

Federer out of US Open after stunning loss to 55th-ranked Millman

NEW YORK — Roger Federer served poorly. Closed poorly, too. And now he's gone, beaten at the US Open by an opponent ranked outside the top 50 for the first time in his career.

Looking slow and tired on a sweltering night in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the No. 2-seeded Federer double-faulted 10 times, failed to convert a trio of set points and lost 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) in the fourth round to John Millman in a match that began Monday and concluded at nearly 1 a.m. on Tuesday.

It's only the second time in Federer's past 14 appearances at the US Open that he's lost before the quarterfinals. He is, after all, a five-time champion at the tournament, part of his men's-record haul of 20 Grand Slam titles.

"I have so much respect for Roger and everything he's done for the game. He's been a hero of mine, and today he was definitely not at his best," Millman said, "but, you know, I'll take it."

So much for that highly anticipated matchup between Federer and 13-time major champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Instead, it'll be the 55th-ranked Millman, an Australian who had never made it past the third round at a Slam until last week, taking on No. 6 seed Djokovic.

Millman was adamant he would not be intimidated by Federer, and perhaps was helped by having spent time practicing together a few months ago ahead of the grass-court portion of this season.

Still, this was a stunner. Not simply because Federer lost — he entered the day 28-0 at the US Open, and 127-1 in all Grand Slam matches, against foes below No. 50 in the ATP rankings — but how he lost. Start with this: Federer held two set points while serving for the second at 5-4, 40-15 and did not pull through. Millman knew that was the turning point.

"I felt like a bit of a deer in headlights to begin with, to be honest with you. The feet weren't moving. Roger had me on a string. He was manipulating me around the court," Millman said.

"But I got out of a tough second set and really found my feet and started to be a little bit more aggressive."

Then Federer had a set point in the third at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but again was stymied.

In the fourth set, he went up a break at 4-2, yelling "Come on!" and getting all of those rowdy spectators in their "RF" gear on their feet, prompting the chair umpire to repeatedly plead for silence. But Federer uncharacteristically got broken right back with a sloppy game, most egregiously when he slapped what should have been an easy putaway into the net.

And then there was his serve.

In the final tiebreaker, he double-faulted twice in a row.

The first obvious signs of trouble for Federer came far earlier, in the second game of the second set. He started that 15-minute struggle by missing 18 of his initial 20 first serves. While he eventually held there, he needed to save seven break points along the way. It was clear the 37-year-old Federer was not at his best.

Maybe the 75 percent humidity played a role. Millman's big rips on groundstrokes didn't help matters. As the unforced errors mounted — Federer would finish with 77, nearly three times as many as Millman's 28 — Federer's wife, Mirka, couldn't bear to look, placing her forehead on her hands in the guest box in the stands.

Federer hung his head at a changeover, a little black fan pointed right at his face, but nothing seemed to make him feel like himself.

Hours before, Djokovic left the court for a medical timeout — the second time during the tournament he's sought help from a doctor because of harsh weather — during what would become an otherwise straightforward 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory over 68th-ranked Joao Sousa of Portugal.

"I'm not 21 anymore. That was 10 years ago. I still don't feel old. But at the same time, there is a little biological clock that is not really working in your favor," Djokovic told the crowd afterward. "Sometimes, you just have to survive."

He reached the quarterfinals for an 11th consecutive appearance in New York as he bids for a third US Open championship and 14th Grand Slam trophy.

The other quarterfinal on the bottom half of the draw will be a rematch of the 2014 US Open final: No. 7 Marin Cilic against No. 21 Kei Nishikori.

Cilic, who beat Nishikori four years ago for his only major title, was a 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4 winner against No. 10 David Goffin, while Nishikori advanced by defeating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-2, 7-5.

source: philstar.com

Novak Djokovic tops Roger Federer to win US Open

Novak Djokovic clinched his third Grand Slam title of 2015 and 10th career major with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 triumph over sentimental favorite Roger Federer in the US Open final on Sunday.

Shrugging off a three-hour rain delay and the overwhelming hostility of the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, the 28-year-old world number one captured his second title in New York to add to his 2011 triumph.

The defeat shattered 34-year-old Federer’s bid to become the oldest US Open champion in 45 years and left him marooned on 17 Grand Slam titles, the last of which came at Wimbledon in 2012.

Djokovic added the US Open title to his Australian Open and Wimbledon victories this year.

Had it not been for a heartbreaking loss to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final in June, the rock-solid Serb would have been celebrating a rare calendar Grand Slam.

Djokovic’s 10 majors takes him level with American Bill Tilden and just one shy of Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver on the all-time list.

Federer was ultimately undone by 54 unforced errors and his ability to convert just four of 23 break points.

“I have tremendous respect for Roger and the challenge he presents,” said Djokovic, who is now 21-21 in career meetings with Federer.

“He’s the best player ever. I knew I needed to play my best in order to win. It’s an incredible evening.”

He added: “I love this sport and all these achievements are incentive for me to keep on going.”

Federer insisted he would be back to try again in 2016.

“I love tennis. I’ll see you back here next year,” said the veteran.

“I’m pleased with where my game is, but playing a great champion like Novak is always difficult.”

With the likes of Robert Redford, Sean Connery and David Beckham watching, and with Eva Asderaki-Moore making history as the first woman to umpire the men’s singles final, Djokovic was dialled in from the start despite heavy rain forcing a three-hour delay and an evening start.

He forced five-time champion Federer, playing in his first US Open final in six years, to save three break points in a six-minute opening game.

The top seed held to love and then broke for 2-1 — it was just the third time in 84 service games at the tournament that the Swiss veteran had been broken.

Bloodied but unbowed

However, with the playing surface still damp from the hours of rain, the Serb suffered a worrying fall in the next game, turning over on his right ankle and bloodying his elbow.

Federer pounced to retrieve the break but the Serb was soon back in the ascendancy and Federer was broken again in the seventh game.

Federer saved a set point in the ninth, but conceded the first set with a netted backhand in the 10th game.

It ended his run of 28 consecutive sets won, a mark stretching back to July’s Wimbledon championship match, where he lost to Djokovic.

Djokovic saved five break points in an eight-minute game to go 1-1 in the second set despite Federer’s first use of his ‘SABR’ charge-and-chip ploy.

Federer then had two set points in the 10th game — surrendering one with a wild forehand with an open court at his mercy.

Djokovic held after seven deuces and 15 minutes of unbearable tension as he faced down Federer and the majority of the crowd.

The Swiss allowed another set point to slip away in the 12th game but he converted his fourth on a monster backhand to level the final.

The stadium erupted, leaving no doubt whatsoever as to the crowd’s affections.

Djokovic broke for 2-1 in the third, but unsettled by a call from the crowd during his service action he handed back the break for 2-2.

The top seed saved two break points in the eighth game before Federer suddenly lost focus and out of nowhere handed Djokovic a 5-4 lead.

Federer had two break points as he desperately clung on but Djokovic held his nerve to serve it out.

Djokovic sensed blood and broke in the opening game of the fourth set and saved a break point to lead 4-2.

The Serb broke again for 5-2, roaring at the crowd and the New York nighttime sky.

But there was still time for a twist as Federer retrieved one of the breaks when Djokovic served for the title and backed it up with a hold.

The Swiss let three more break points slip away in the 10th game before nerveless Djokovic sealed victory off a long Federer service return.

source: interaksyon.com