China’s Wang Qiang was too solid for Ash Barty in their 4th round match at the US Open.

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Wang was coached by Australia’s Peter McNamara until February this year. McNamara sadly died recently after suffering from prostate cancer.

Barty failed to convert all nine of her break point opportunities and also hit 39 unforced errors to Wang’s 14. The winners were 22 to 11 in favour of the Australian.

Wang converted 3 of 6 break points to help setup her 6-2, 6-4 victory to advance to her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Recently Ash Barty defeated Maria Sakkari at the Cincinnatti Premier 5 tournament when they met in the quarterfinals. On that occasion, Barty came back from 5-7 in the first set to crush Sakkari 6-2, 6-0 in the next two sets.
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The players met again in the third round at the US Open. Barty was up a break at 4-3 but dropped serve to see the score at 4-4. Sakkari won the next game to have the Australian under pressure.

Barty then went on a three-game streak to claim the first set.

The world no. 2 Barty broke in the fifth game of the second set and then consolidated the break to lead 4-2. Another break came with Sakkari serving to stay in the match at 3-5. Barty broke her Greek opponent to love to take the match 7-5, 6-3 in one hour and 27 minutes.

“Maria is an incredible competitor and great mover around the court,” Barty said. “She really brings her best stuff when she’s on the move, so it was important for me to try and dictate without going into her patterns too much.”

“It’s tricky to play a friend, it always is,” Barty added. “I was really happy to be able to finish off both of those sets today.”

Barty has matched her best performance at a US Open by reaching the fourth round. She next takes on Wang Qiang from China. The winner could face Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.

Alex de Minaur claimed his first top-ten scalp at a US Open when he took out Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
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After the match de Minaur said he was playing like a robot, just trying to focus on each point and not let emotions get the better of him.

“The crowd support was amazing,” De Minaur, who claimed his maiden ATP Tour title last month in Atlanta, said after the match. “I had a bit of a thrill last year against Cilic. Was two-sets-to-love up again and I’m glad I could finally get the win.”

de Minaur booked himself a match against former world no. 3 Grigor Dimitrov. Both players will be looking to reach their first US Open quarterfinal.

At the US Open today it was the rain that won most of the matches. Thanks to the roof over the two main courts some matches were completed.

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Australia’s Ash Barty fought off a strong challenge from USA’s Lauren Davis winning their match 6-2, 7-6(2).

Davis the world no. 73 saw her serve broken three times in the first set as she managed to break Barty on one occasion.

In the second set, it was a lot tighter. Both players broke on one occasion with the American being first to break. Barty hit back and the match went to a tie breaker.

Barty had seen so many break opportunities come and go as she was 1/9 in the set.

The Australian managed to easily close out the match in the tie break to advance to the third round. Her opponent is yet to be determined. It will be the winner of the Peng Shuai vs Maria Sakkari match.

Australia’s John Millman was the odd man out during day two action at the US Open.

Nick Kyrgios, Jordan Thompson, Alexei Popyrin and Thanasi Kokkinakis all advanced to the second round. Millman, however, was not able to pull off a huge upset in his round one match against Rafael Nadal.
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Just under a year ago it was Millman that shocked the tennis world when he defeated Roger Federer in the Round of 16. In round one he was no match for Nadal, losing 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.
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Wildcard recipient Kokkinakis took advantage and defeated Belarussian Ilya Ivashka (Q) 6-3, 7-6(10), 6-7(4), 6-2. He now faces Nadal in round 2. Kokkinakis defeated Federer at Miami in 2018, so he can pull off an upset, but maybe not over the best of five sets format against one of the greats of the game.

Popyrin came quickly out of the gates against Argentina’s Federico Delbonis winning the first set 6-1. Things got tighter as the match progressed but Popyrin held his nerve to record a 6-1, 7-5, 7-6(5) victory. He next faces Mikhail Kukushkin from Kazakhstan. A winnable match for the Australian.
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Thompson had a comfortable straight-sets win over world no. 44 Joao Sousa from Portugal. He only faced one break point and broke his opponent on four occasions. Thompson next faces Italy’s Matteo Berrettini the no. 24 seed.
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Kyrgios had a late-night match in Louis Armstrong Stadium. His victory came in just over two hours against USA’s Steve Johnson. The final score was 6-3, 7-6(1), 6-4.

The Canberran served 24 Aces and had a total for 53 winners to 16 from his American opponent. Unforced errors were 32 from Kyrgios to 23 from Johnson.

Kyrgios next will face France’s wildcard Antoine Hoang.

Ajla Tomljanovic came from losing the opening set 6-1 to defeat Marie Bouzkova 1-6, 7-5, 6-1. Her round two opponent will be no. 21 seed Anett Kontaveit from Estonia.
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Astra Sharma lost her opening round match against Poland’s Magda Linette 6-3, 6-4.
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On day three we will see Ash Barty take on USA’s Lauren Davis in a round two match in Louis Armstrong Stadium. The only other Australian in day three singles action is Alex de Minaur who plays Chile’s Cristian Garin the 31st seed.

Kyrgios is playing doubles with Romania’s Marius Copil.

The last time Australia’s Ash Barty was out on Arthur Ashe Stadium she was being crowned US Open champion in doubles.

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Barty and Coco Vandeweghe had claimed the doubles title in 2018.

Playing her first singles match on Arthur Ashe Barty got off to a slow start and found herself down 1-6 after the first set against Zarina Diyas from Kazakhstan.

Barty’s serve was way off in the opening set and she lacked patience during the rallies. The world no. 2 serving at just 25% on first serves in the opening set.

Five winners came from Barty in the first set, but this was overshadowed by 19 unforced errors.

Barty was able to turn things around to avoid an early exit from the 2019 US Open.

The Australian’s serve was still not up to standard with 46% of first serves finding their mark but the winners in set no. 2 were just ahead of the unforced errors at 10 to nine.

In the deciding set Barty finally found her rhythm on serve and was able to get 62% or her first serves into play. Diyas was going the other way serving at 52% after being in the 60s in the first two sets.

Barty hit four Aces and that helped push the winners count up to 12 for the set against eight unforced errors. Diyas hit just five winners to 13 unforced errors.

Two breaks of serve in the final set helped Barty move into a second-round matchup against USA’s Lauren Davis. The final score was 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

“I probably would have preferred if it was a little bit more straightforward, but I’m happy [with] the way we were able to fight through that and find a way after a pretty awful start,” Barty said after the match. “I think I just didn’t give myself a chance in that first set. I think it was just nice to kind of lockdown a little bit. It took some time, but kind of break her down in the end,” said Barty.

Daria Gavrilova, Sam Stosur and Priscilla Hon all fell at the first hurdle, all losing in straight sets.

After a surprise win at Wimbledon, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic win at the US Open came as no surprise. Djokovic has claimed his 14th Grand Slam title after a 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro.

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Photo – 2018 US Open Tennis Tournament – Day Fourteen. Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates with the trophy after his victory against Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the Men’s Singles Final on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the 2018 US Open Tennis Tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 9th, 2018 in Flushing, Queens, New York City. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

Djokovic added to his 2011 and 2015 US Open titles. The Serb has also been a runner-up on five occasions in 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2016.

Djokovic got the only break in the first set converting the one chance that he had while not facing a break point on his serve. In the second set, Djokovic was out to a 3-1 lead after winning six of seven games late in the first set and to the point, he held that lead. del Potro fought back to level the set and the players continued to a tiebreaker after a 95-minute set.

The key game was a marathon 20-minute game at 3-4 in which Djokovic fought off three break points and stayed on serve instead of del Potro serving for the set.

During the tiebreak del Potro’s forehand let him down at times and that allowed Djokovic take a commanding two sets to nil advantage.

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Photo: Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action against Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the Men’s Singles Final. His defence won the match (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

The third set again saw Djokovic get the first break only for del Potro to come back to level at 3-3, but on the back of great defence Djokovic hit back with another break before serving out the match.

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Photo: NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 09: Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina returns the ball during his men’s Singles finals match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia on Day Fourteen of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 9, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

“I’m very sad for being a loser today,” said Del Potro. “But Novak deserved to take the trophy. He played a great match, very smart game. I had my opportunities during the second and third set.

“But I was playing almost at the limit all the time, looking for winners with my forehands, backhands, and I couldn’t make it because Novak was there every time. He’s a great champion. So I’m glad for him.”

While equaling one legend in Sampras, he overtakes another, Roger Federer, as the ATP’s all-time prize money leader ($119 million), after collecting his $3.8 million winner’s cheque.

Djokovic dropped just two sets over the seven matches that it took to claim the championship. They came in his opening match against Marton Fucsovics and his round two match against Tennys Sandgren in a third set tiebreak.

The great Serbian player will now jump to no. 3 in the rankings and could reach no. 1 by year’s end.

After collecting doubles runner-up trophies at all four Grand Slams with fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua, Ash Barty has finally tasted Grand Slam success after winning the US Open doubles title with CoCo Vandeweghe as the no. 13 seeds.

 

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Photo: NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 09: Ashleigh Barty of Australia and Coco Vandeweghe of the United States pose for photos with Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France after the women’s doubles final on Day Fourteen of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 9, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Barty and Vandeweghe defeated Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(6). The Aussie-US duo save three match points before claiming the title against the no. 2 seed and reigning Australian Open champions. They had already accounted for the top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova in the semis. The top seeds are also the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champions.

“Yeah, obviously we’ve only played a handful of tournaments together this year, but we’ve had pretty good success right from the get-go. This last fortnight has been really fun on and off the court. We’ve been relaxed. We’re very hungry to go as deep as we could. It was really nice to be able to play a pretty clean tournament,” said Barty when talking about playing with Vandeweghe.

After the win, the players have hastily been presented their trophies and did not have a proper award ceremony, something they were not happy about. “Well, it should be. It was an American playing in the championship. I’m just bummed we didn’t have any sort of award ceremony. We couldn’t thank anyone. I think that was poor form.

Maybe we’ll get another moment sometime, we’ll have another Grand Slam at Australia. Maybe they’ll do us right in Australia since the U.S. couldn’t do me right”, said Vandeweghe during the press conference.

Barty said, “The men needed to start. To be honest, I don’t think they would have worried if they were 10 or 15 minutes delayed. I think it would have been nice for us to be able to thank our teams and all the people that make it a possibility, and to thank the crowd, as well. They were absolutely phenomenal; they really were. They were a little bit confused as to why we weren’t given the opportunity.

But at the end of the day, I mean, we still played a really good match and get to celebrate with our teams after. I think it would have been nice to voice that straight after the match.”

It pretty much comes down to the power of television as the networks would want the men to start on time.

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Photo: NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 09: CoCo Vandeweghe of the United States and Ashleigh Barty of Australia celebrate winning their Women’s Doubles final match against Timea Babos of Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic of France on Day Fourteen of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 9, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images for USTA)

Babos and Mladenovic, chasing their second Slam after winning at the Australian Open, had this to say on the part they played in a thrilling final in their post-match press conference. The match had ended on a double fault.

“I think it just slipped out of our hands in the second set, and then, after we were down big-time and we were really fighting till the end and this is why they are such a great team,” Babos said, in defeat.

“I don’t have regrets. We gave everything what we had. It was a great opportunity, but 100% sure that the way we play we will have a lot, lot, lot more.”

Mladenovic added: “From both sides were some rallies, some lines, luckier shot here and there. It’s all about this. It’s the magic of tennis. I am only proud…and the way we played tonight was great.”

Naomi Osaka has become the first player from Japan to win a Grand Slam singles title defeating Serena Williams 6-2, 6-4. The gloss has been taken off her win after a coaching controversy and the events that followed.

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Photo: NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 08: Naomi Osaka of Japan poses with the championship trophy after winning the Women’s Singles finals match against Serena Williams of the United States on Day Thirteen of the 2018 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 8, 2018 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

The problems started when Williams received a code violation for receiving coaching, something that her coach Patrick Mouratoglou admitted to doing after the match.

During the post match press conference Williams was asked about the coaching incident. She responded by saying, “So, I don’t know. I literally just heard that, too, when they prepped me to come in. I just texted Patrick, like, What is he talking about? Because we don’t have signals. We have never discussed signals. I don’t even call for on-court coaching.

I’m trying to figure out why he would say that. I don’t understand — I mean, maybe he said, You can do it.

I was on the far other end, so I’m not sure. I want to clarify myself what he’s talking about.”

Mouratoglou was seen by umpire Carlos Ramos giving hand signals which suggested coming to the net more. That resulted in a warning. After receiving the warning Williams demanded an apology from the umpire insisting she is not a cheat and would rather lose than need to cheat.

Next Williams had broken serve, something that had not happened to Osaka since the fourth round against Aryna Sabalenka when she was broken three times. In the semifinal, she saved 13 from 13 break points against Madison Keys and three from three in the quarterfinal against Lesia Tsurenko.

In the game that followed Williams gave up two double faults and was broken. In a moment of frustration, Serena smashed her racquet. That resulted in another code violation and a point penalty.

As Osaka stepped up to serve the umpire announced the score as 15-0 from the penalty. On hearing that Williams went to Carlos Ramos and tells him: “Every time I play here, I have problems. I did not have coaching, I don’t cheat. You need to make an announcement. I have a daughter and I stand for what’s right. You owe me an apology.”

Even more was to come. During the change of ends Williams said “For you to attack my character is wrong. You owe me an apology. You will never be on a court with me as long as you live. You are the liar. You owe me an apology. Say it. Say you’re sorry.

“How dare you insinuate that I was cheating? You stole a point from me. You’re a thief too. ”

That resulted in another code violation, the third of the match and a game penalty. The scenes were now chaotic and the crowd reacted in support of Serena and boos rained down for Ramos.

Williams after being penalised a game then served and won her game to take the score to 4-5. Now Osaka was serving for her first Grand Slam title. Being so young she could have easily lost focus, but with the crowd against her Osaka served out the match and became the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title.

In the first set it was Osaka that broke Williams two times while she fought off two break points. In the second game, Osaka was down 0-30 but fought back.

In the next game the first break came after Williams double-faulted at 30-40. Serena was broken in her next service game after hitting into the net. Osaka was out to a 4-1 lead. Williams was able to hold before Osaka served out the set.

Speaking after the match Osaka said she was not aware of what was going on between the umpire and Williams, she was just staying focused on what she needed to do to play at her best.

Unfortunately, the gloss has been taken from Osaka’s win, but you have to give her credit for doing all she could do to win, and win she did. Despite the controversy, Osaka is now always the 2018 US Open women’s champion.

Osaka spoke about Williams’ woes at the post-match press conference. “Well, I mean, the crowd was really noisy, so I really didn’t hear. Like, I really didn’t hear anything that was going on.

And when I turned around, uhm, it was 5-3, so I was a little bit confused then. But for me, I felt like I really had to focus during this match because she’s such a great champion, and I know that she can come back from any point.

I was just trying to focus on myself at that time”, she said.

Despite showing little emotion after her win Osaka got a bit emotional in the press conference when she was talking about how she reacted at the end of the match. “Okay, because I know that, like, she really wanted to have the 24th Grand Slam, right? Everyone knows this. It’s on the commercials, it’s everywhere. Like, when I step onto the court, I feel like a different person, right? I’m not a Serena fan. I’m just a tennis player playing another tennis player.

But then when I hugged her at the net (tearing up)…

Anyway, when I hugged her at the net, I felt like a little kid again.” she said fighting back the tears.

Osaka also spoke about how important it was to get the break back straight away in the second set. ” I think when she broke me, I think trying to get the break back was, for me, the most important thing, when I had to concentrate the most.

I think if she broke me and then she held, then the crowd would definitely be, like, super for her, and she would get very pumped up, which is kind of dangerous. I thought it was really important to break back.”

Videos

Below are videos from the press conferences and a highlight video.

Naomi Osake Captures First Grand Slam Title at 2018 US Open

2018 US Open Press Conference: Naomi Osaka

2018 US Open Press Conference: Serena Williams

Naomi Osaka’s coach, Sascha Bajin said he had not been coaching during the final, and praised Osaka’s performance.

“It was beautiful, to see how composed she stayed during this whole match, how she didn’t drop her level of play,” he said. “And yeah, kind of stayed calm, the whole crowd going against her. Then the delays with whatever happened on court, she knew what she had to do.”

Also read – Osaka ends Kvitova fairytale as she claims the Australian Open title and world no. 1

After Australia’s John Millman sent Roger Federer packing in the fourth round of the US Open the big question after who is that guy? was can he do it again?

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Photo: Australia’s John Millman has put his hand up for another big upset (Photo by Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

You have to admit Federer was not at his best against Millman, he started well but then the energy-sapping humidity ate away at the great man. Federer served below 50%, something that is rarely seen.

You have to give credit to Millman, Federer was serving for two sets to nil advantage and was 40-15 up. Millman didn’t give in, he kept the ball in play when needed and worked his way into the match. From there we know history was made and Millman booked a spot in his first grand slam quarterfinal against former world no. 1 Novak Djokovic.

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Photo: Novak Djokovic goes into the quarterfinal match against Millman as a hot favourite. (Photo by Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Djokovic has won the US Open in 2011 and 2015 and is one of the great players in tennis. After a long injury layoff, Djokovic announced that he was back to his best when he won Wimbledon earlier this year.

In the US Open lead-up events Djokovic lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the round of 16 at the Rogers Cup in Canada and then he won the Cincinnati Masters defeating Federer in the final. Along the way to the title, he played four three-set matches, an ideal preparation for the US Open.

In his first two matches, Djokovic had reasonably comfortable four-set wins, followed by two three-set wins. You would say he is primed to defeat John Millman.

Millman had a nice easy opening round match when he defeated young America wildcard recipient Jenson Brooksby. He then took out the no. 14 seed Fabio Fognini who is more of a clay court specialist. Next up was world no. 84 Mikhail Kukushkin from Kazakhstan. Millman won that match 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

We know what happened next.

Going into the US Open, Millman had lost in his first round matches against Taro Daniel at the Winston-Salem Open and the Cincinnati Masters against Tim Smyczek.

Djokovic and Millman have met just one time in their careers. That match came on grass at the Queen’s Club with Djokovic winning in a canter 6-2, 6-1.

Now we come to the quarterfinal match between Millman and Djokovic at the US Open. All the stats point to a straight sets win for Djokovic. As much as I want Millman to win I think a straight set Djokovic win is the most likely outcome.

It would take another top of his game performance from Millman, and for Djokovic to have an off game. The weather is not as hot, so that card is most likely not going to be dealt with.

Players have off days, so it is not completely out of the question for Millman to win. He has been troubled by injuries over the years, so you never know, there could be a grand slam champion hiding within.