US Open 2022

First topic message reminder :

Former US champion Dominic Thiem awarded as wildcard.
Venus Williams also awarded a wildcard.

Big Foe takes the opening set vs Nadal 6-4

Nadal evens it up by taking second set 6-4

I know there was some hope that Norrie would upset Rublev. But Cam rarely troubles the better players, although he has been wonderfully consistent in seeing off lesser opposition over the last two seasons.

Rafa will, I feel sure, come out ok after losing the first set tonight. There looked as if there might be a major shock when lowly-ranked German Niemeier took the first set v Swiatek but the number one has just come thru, with her customary bagel, in three.

Nadal beaten in four. Well below his best, lots of problems with his serve, but Tiafoe was sublime all the same and seals the best win of his career.

With Rafa and Cilic beaten we'll have a new GS winner - the third in a row in New York.

As has been said before, the USO has been the most open of the slams in recent years, with none of the Big Three able to dominate it since 2008.

The men's q-f line-up must be the youngest for many a while. Who's the likeliest winner? Bookies will probably make Kyrgios favourite, especially as he has, on paper, the least tough quarter final.

As long as Swiatek remains, I'm going to make her favourite. She might have got her awkward match out of the way yesterday, recovering from a set and a break down.

Norrie coming up short against Rublev. Seems like he has let a great chance at a slam win get away what with the way the draw has opened up. Now from who is left my money would be on either Kyrgios or Berrettini but both have mental fragilities.

I don't think Berrettini's mental fragilities are holding him back so much as his inability - an inability shared with Cam Norrie - to beat top 10 players.

Berrettini's last top 10 win was against Thiem in Jan 21. His career record against top 10ers is 7-18. Much of his success has been down to his good grass court record. But the highest ranked player he met while winning Queen's in 2021 was ranked 22nd and the highest he encountered while retaining his Q's crown this year was 29.

He won Stuttgart this summer, too, but Sonego, at 32, was his highest-ranked opponent. OK, you can only beat who's in front of you, but the Italian's results have somewhat flattered him.

Same with Cam Norrie. His overall record v top 10ers before this tournament was even worse - 6-26. So it was a real leap of faith to think he was going to topple Rublev.

sirfredperry wrote:I don't think Berrettini's mental fragilities are holding him back so much as his inability - an inability shared with Cam Norrie - to beat top 10 players.

Berrettini's last top 10 win was against Thiem in Jan 21. His career record against top 10ers is 7-18. Much of his success has been down to his good grass court record. But the highest ranked player he met while winning Queen's in 2021 was ranked 22nd and the highest he encountered while retaining his Q's crown this year was 29.

He won Stuttgart this summer, too, but Sonego, at 32, was his highest-ranked opponent. OK, you can only beat who's in front of you, but the Italian's results have somewhat flattered him.

Same with Cam Norrie. His overall record v top 10ers before this tournament was even worse - 6-26. So it was a real leap of faith to think he was going to topple Rublev.

Well his head-to-head alone going up against Rublev prior to the match was 1-1. Berrettini has a strong game but as we saw V Murray he has mental dips that will end up costing him. Your Norrie and Berrettini-type players are potential slam winners when draws open up for them as this one has. With the golden generation now virtually gone the top dogs at the business end of tournaments are far more beatable by a wider range of players but they are capable of winning a slam in my opinion.

I think there is far more chance of Berrettini winning a Slam than Norrie as the Italian has this massive serve and huge forehand - two weapons that Cam just does not have.

Interesting that it's the likes of Alcaraz, Sinner and Ruud who are stepping up as the Big 3 begin to fade away, rather than Tsitsipas and Zverev, although not much the German could do about the last two slams.

As for today, I'm taking Ruud and Kyrgios to advance to the semis. Jabeur, on paper, should beat Tomljanovic but the Aussie is a feisty competitor who did well to beat Serena AND the crowd earlier.

The difficult one to forecast is Gauff-Garcia. Both have been in good form. Maybe the crowd support might edge it for Coco.

Ruud takes the first set 6-1 in just 18 minutes.

Casper Ruud laying waste to Matteo...
6-1 6-4
No Roman miracle this time...

Berrettini at last getting something out of the match. He leads 3-0 in the third, but a long way back from here.

Casper Ruud beats Matteo Berrettini 6-1 6-4 7-6. Berrettini bottled the third set.
Ruud is Thiem mini me

Ruud's route to number one still in rude health. Berrettini will rue missing two SPs to win the third set.

The Italian's poor record v top 10ers persists. One scenario that's been put forward and is now still possible is that Ruud and Alcaraz reach the final and the winner then becomes number one.

Kyrgios must be feeling he can go for this

I'm really looking forward to Kyrgios vs Khachanov. Kyrgios is playing the best tennis of his career. Khachanov is a streaky player, IIRC he once beat Djokovic in an ATP 1000 final - no mean feat.

Jabeur a set and a break up altho her feisty opponent will not give up.

Karen Khachanov beat Nick Kyrgios 7-5 4-6 7-5 6-7 6-4. The Russian reaches first major semi final.

Kyrgios said he was devastated after his defeat. Must say I was surprised he didn't win.

This keeps an all-Russian final a possibility. Not sure what folks will make of that.

Thought the Garcia-Goff match would be close, but the Frenchwoman now looks a likely winner of the whole thing, although she may have to beat Swiatek. Garcia is on a 13-match streak.

Tom did fight back against Ons but Jabeur prevailed without it going to a deciding set.

I think today will see Rublev overcome Tiafoe who may struggle mentally and physically after the huge win over Rafa.

Sinner v Alcaraz is intriguing. The Italian is so boyish and wafer thin that he looks as if he should be playing in the junior USO, but he can certainly compete with the big boys. I'm sitting on the fence on this one, predictions-wise.

sirfredperry wrote:Kyrgios said he was devastated after his defeat. Must say I was surprised he didn't win.

This keeps an all-Russian final a possibility. Not sure what folks will make of that.

Thought the Garcia-Goff match would be close, but the Frenchwoman now looks a likely winner of the whole thing, although she may have to beat Swiatek. Garcia is on a 13-match streak.

Tom did fight back against Ons but Jabeur prevailed without it going to a deciding set.

I think today will see Rublev overcome Tiafoe who may struggle mentally and physically after the huge win over Rafa.

Sinner v Alcaraz is intriguing. The Italian is so boyish and wafer thin that he looks as if he should be playing in the junior USO, but he can certainly compete with the big boys. I'm sitting on the fence on this one, predictions-wise.

Yes I was surprised Kyrgios lost and, like Norrie, he will see it as a massive chance lost. Will he get a better one with Nadal, Djokovic and Federer out of the picture? Alcaraz (forgot he was still in) against Sinner will be interesting and the potential champion could very well come from that match.

Interesting how the US has become the most unpredictable of the Slams.

OK, this year there is no Djoko and Federer hasn't played New York for some time.

But even when the Big 3 or Big 4 were dominating they couldn't take complete control of the USO in the way they did/have in the other GS (particularly Wimbledon).

Since Fed won in New York last, no champion has successfully defended his title. Instead we've had a succession of guys who have taken just the one US title - delpo, Murray, Cilic, Wawrinka, Thiem, Medvedev and the 2022 champ.

Is it the courts? Could it be burn-out at the end of a long season? Whatever the reason it makes the GS year far more interesting and makes annual predictions of the Slam winners a tad more difficult.

Definitely think the calendar has become more unsustainable and players are generally exhausted by the time New York rolls around.

Backing Sinner to takeout Carlitos
Rublev to takeout Big Foe - usually there’s a big comedown after beating one of your superstars

Always nice to see new people winning slams
I of course routed for Nadal, but he clearly didnt have the level to win the whole thing this time.

Very difficult for me to predict the finalist between Ruud and Khachanov. Ruud is already grand slam finalist and has a better ranking, normally he would be the favourite, but I still see him mainly as a claycourter

Khachanov on the other hand is M1000 champion and olimpic finalist, and a hardcourt specialist. But untill today he was not having that good of a year.

Sinner - Alcaraz, also very balanced. Sinner seems to have the edge at the moment, but its just a 2-1 h2h. I think Alcaraz had a better tournament thus far, but I am not sure that means anything once the match starts. I wish Alcaraz wins, but I like Sinner too.

As for Rublev - Tiafoe, up untill monday I would have always said Rublev, but if Tiafoe plays at the level he showed against Nadal, then he can do it.

I think the finalist in the bottom half will come from the Sinner - Alcaraz match.

Let's hope that a new winner doesn't spark a weak-era/poor quality debate.

OK, Djoko wasn't around and anything Zverev could have brought to the tournament was scuppered by his injury.

But there's some good talent around and the average age of the male q-finalists was an indication of good things to come.

Just seen a few clips of the Garcia-Gauff match. Garcia looked good. She could easily go on to win the whole thing.

There was talk some years ago of Garcia having enough ability to go to number one. It's easy to forget that she did reach number four at a fairly young age.

It's been a tough few years since, but she's only 28 now and playing some of her best tennis.

I tuned into a live commentary of the Kyrgios - Khachanov match and it was suggested that Kyrgios movement was clearly impaired and it looked like a knee problem or something.  This was mentioned late third set and fourth set.  Obviously not bad enough to retire but bad enough to be noticeable to a professional tennis coach. I only listened to a live stream commentary with no images.

Amazed to wake up to find Alcaraz and Sinner were still at it. it's 2-2 in the 5th with the match approaching five hours long.

There have been numerous BPs and breaks. Alcaraz had points for a two sets to love lead, but instead went 2-1 down in sets before forcing a 5th.

It's all good news for Tiafoe who followed up his massive win over Rafa with an impressive straight-sets demolition of Rublev.

The American joked that he hoped the young guns had to play all night - and they have. Must make Tiafoe a favourite for the final, now.

Swiatek and Sabalenka came thru in their quarters and will meet for a place in the final. Got to favour Swiatek.

LATER: Alcaraz finally gets home after 5hrs 15 mins. 6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5, 6-3.

Epic win for Alcaraz there over Sinner in 5 sets - really had to dig deep. The Alcaraz Sinner rivalry has the potential to be most compelling rivalry since Djokovic Wawrinka.

At this stage I would put the Spaniard as favourite to win the title. I like Tiafoe's game, he's clearly in form of his life and he'll be buoyed up by home crowd but I think Carlos has the sustained firepower and variety to see off the American and then prevail against Ruud or Khachanov in final.

Well, a 2.50am finish ain't great preparation for a semi so I'm thinking Tiafoe might have too much for Alcaraz.

When I checked the scores in the middle of the night the Spaniard has SPs for a two sets to love lead. When I checked again they were deep into the 4th, with Alcaraz about to take it to a 5th.

Learned later that Alcaraz had had chances to take both the second and third sets but instead had had to ward off an MP in the 4th.

Then, in this epic encounter, Sinner was up a break at 3-2 in the 5th, only for Alcaraz to take the last four games. Amazing stuff.

This keeps alive the chance of the Spaniard becoming the youngest-ever number one in the Open Era.

What an epic QF that was between Alcaraz and Sinner. High quality, intensity and great rallies. A real classic match to show us there is real quality young players out there. Alcaraz won in five long sets in a match lasting over five and a quarter hours making it the second longest match in US Open history after saving a match point in the fourth set.The Spaniard now has to recover quickly for the semi.

So one of Ruud, Khachanov, Alcaraz and Tiafoe will be a new GS winner.

Alcaraz and Ruud would go to number one with the title. The young Spaniard has had two long matches, with two late-night finishes and this may well count against him.

On the other hand, can Tiafoe produce a third and/or fourth terrific display in a row? I, for one, didn't think he'd be able to follow up his terrific win over Rafa. But I was wrong. However, is he good enough to string four results together at the business end of a GS? At the risk of being wrong again, I would say no.

At the other end of the draw I was expecting Kyrgios to emerge after beating Medvedev. Khachanov is an unexpected s-finalist and I'm going for Ruud to make the final.

Women's semis today. Looks like a Swiatek-Garcia final to me. Swiatek has been the form player this year, while Garcia has been the form player in the late summer.

Only seen a few clips of the Alcaraz epic. May be the secret of playing the oh-so-fit Spaniard is to go for wrong-footing shots.

Alcaraz seems to reach practically everything if you play it into the open court. In my view, the only way to beat these golden retrievers is to go back behind them whenever possible.

Full marks to those who stayed on to the end. There seemed to be a lot of noise at the finish.

amazing

I only saw brief highlights of Sinner vs Carlitos, but this could be the next big rivalry. Amazing match from what I've seen. If anyone doubted Carlitos well now you don't. He's a freak. Gutted for Sinner, but his time is coming.

I saw pretty much all of Rublev vs Tiafoe, Tiafoe was hitting bombs. Was crazy how he could play like that all match.

Despite getting every prediction wrong so far LOL - Carlitos for the championship and world no. 1 ranking.

I have the feeling this cup is for Ruud

It will be Swiatek v Jabeur for the title. Iga came from a set down and 4-2 down in the third to oust Sabelenka.

I rather fancied Garcia for the title but she was demolished by Jabeur and admitted that nerves had got to her.

On a day of monarchical sadness in the UK, two Britons came thru the men's doubles semis. Joe Salisbury partnered Ram to a three-set win over Farah/Cabal and will now meet Skupski and Koolhof in the final.

I think Sinner paid the price for going 5 sets in 3 different matches this week. I have said it before, I think it shows the huge importance of coming through early rounds relatively unscathed. That is what I remember Federer, Nadal and Djokovic so often did over the years, they mostly avoided getting into dog fights in early rounds of slams. I recall it was something that cost Andy Murray quite a few times, I think he had the game to win more than 3 slams and probably deserved more but he had regular slams where he got pulled into 5 sets by player he was ranked way ahead of. He would usually come through those matches but they can be very costly in terms of physical and mental toll as you reach the latter rounds.

I think Sinner would have beaten Alcaraz had he not gone 5 in previous round and in an earlier round (i think he also went 4 in another match too). He seems to have a good game to match up to Alcaraz, he beat him handy enough at Wimbledon this Summer and beat him again a couple of weeks ago. It should be a great future rivalry, all the fuss is about Alcaraz but I think arguably Sinner has more firepower. They are a pretty similar level though overall. I was super impressed by Sinner at Wimbledon, he was the closest to ending Djokovic's reign at Wimbledon.

If I was to choose a winner in the men's I think I will go with Alcaraz but I hope Tiafoe wins it. It would be nice to see an American win the mens singles after such a long wait post Andy Roddick in 2003. I think the global game can only benefit from seeing more Americans coming through to compete with what has been a largely dominant Europe in men's tennis over the past 20 years.

No interest in the Women's to be honest, I just cannot get engaged with it. There are no rivalries to get excited about and I think rivalries are essential in sport to get people excited.

Ruud, Alcaraz and Tiafoe all look good in the tournament.  Khachanov seems to be the weakest. Tiafoe doesn't have the pedigree but does reasonably well at the US Open in front of a home crowd getting to the fourth round in 2021 and 2020.  Ruud's previous performances on the hard courts in slams have been quite poor - no pedigree, but did get to the French Open final this year.  This looks like Alcaraz's tournament to lose from herein.  All about handling the pressure now and ability to recover from the previous match.  Sinner and Alcaraz both look like the real deal - maybe their match was effectively the final.

Missed both the woman’s semis but Swiatek is the favourite for me now. She’s got two majors. Ons is a little volatile. She literally choked the Wimbledon final against an inferior opponent.

I hope Tiafoe goes on to win it. Plays the game with a smile and a home winner is always good. Alvarez has played two consecutive five-setters, so it could be a tough night for him and it boosts Tiafoe's chances considerably.

Ruud is a big favourite for his semi-final, but Khachanov has caused two upsets already and won't be scared of a third.

Think Khachanov will beat Ruud tbh. Khachanov’s best surface is HC and however well Ruud’s been playing, he’s still got weaknesses away from clay

Carlitos beats Tiafoe imo. It’s almost like it’s Carlitos’ destiny to be world number 1

Draper was progressing well against Khachanov after dropping the first set but had to retire in the third set. Khachanov beat Kyrgios but Kyrgios wasn't moving well indicative that all wasn't well with him. I think Khachanov has been fortunate to get this far. Ruud should be significantly fresher also after demolishing Berrettini in the quarter-final.

Tiafoe should be fresher than Alcaraz. Interestingly Tiafoe has played 6 tie break sets this tournament and won them all. Tiafoe has only dropped one set all tournament and that was against Nadal. I suppose Tiafoe winning the title would be less surprising than what happened to Raducanu last year.

ps looks like there is some disagreement regarding who we think will get to the final - which makes the semi-finals worth watching.

Casper Ruud takes the opener in the tie break. On his third set point he won a crazy 55 shot rally to win the set.

Ruud going through the gears in the same second set 4-1 up with double break

Ruud leads 7-6 6-2. He lit up Khachanov in that second set.

Casper Ruud overcome third set drop off to win 7-6 6-1 5-7 6-2. His power off his ground strokes was essentially the difference.
Ruud’s one match away from world number 1.

Carlos Alcaraz once again outlasts his opponent beating Frances Tiafoe 6-7 6-3 6-1 6-7 6-3 to reach maiden slam final.

Alcaraz will become youngest ever world no 1 if he wins on Sunday

It's a straight shoot out for world number one between Ruud and Alcatraz after the Spaniard came thru another crazy and lengthy five-setter last night.

Not sure if a Slam title match has afforded the chance for BOTH finalists to reach numero uno before.

Alcaraz had an MP in the fourth and needed three more in what turned out to be the final game at 5-3 in the 5th.

I was wrong to doubt Tiafoe winning again after his epic victory over Rafa and, not learning from my mistake, I tipped Alcaraz to win last night as I reckoned - rightly this time - that the American was not quite good enough to come up with the goods for THREE successive matches.

Of course, it could have been said that Carlos would have been worn out after two ultra-lengthy late-night encounters. But he appears super fit and has that little bit extra which sees him on the brink of the number one spot.

Got to go with Swiatek for the women's title today although Jabeur, a lively personality, would be a popular winner.