Dominic Thiem was one point from being taken the distance on Louis Armstrong Stadium, but the sixth seed dug in his heels for a gritty four-set win over home hope Taylor Fritz. Thiem needed two hours and 50 minutes to deny the #NextGenATP American 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in their US Open encounter on Thursday. Fritz held three set points to force a decider at 4-5 0/40, but his Austrian opponent blasted his backhand with precision in the critical moment, staving off the trio of chances. He saved 16 of 18 break points in total. "It was 6-4, 6-4 and it looked pretty easy, but it was not at all," said Thiem. "He didn't convert one break point in the...
After back-to-back five-set battles, third seed Roger Federer rolls on. On Thursday, the 2004-2008 US Open champion survived a 6-1, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 struggle with long-time rival, Mikhail Youhzny, a former No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and a two-time US Open semi-finalist. Federer, had never lost to Youzhny in their 16-match FedEx ATP Head2Head series. The Russian, now at No. 101 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, had never gone as close as this. “I'm better than the first round, so I'm happy,” Federer said. “This match wasn't about the back, which is good. This is more just a grind. I felt different, completely different, the way it played and everything. But I'm really, really happy I got...
The #NextGenATP stars of the ATP World Tour are on a tear this week at the US Open, making Flushing Meadows their playground with a trio storming into the third round. Andrey Rublev joined Borna Coric and Denis Shapovalov with a stunning 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-3 upset of Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday afternoon. Rublev demonstrated the poise of a veteran on Louis Armstrong Stadium, crushing his forehand with fearless aplomb. He fired 36 winners, including 23 on that wing, while saving eight of 10 break points faced. Seventh seed Dimitrov was not as sharp as he was in streaking to the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati two weeks ago, and Rublev took full advantage. It was the Russian's...
Juan Martin del Potro continued to build his confidence on Wednesday at the US Open, where he hit the heights eight years ago with his lone Grand Slam title (d. Federer). The popular Argentine struck 40 winners, including 17 aces, to knock out Spanish qualifier Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-2, 6-3, 7-6(3) in two hours and 10 minutes. The No. 24 seed, now 20-11 on the 2017 season, will next face another Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, the No. 11 seed. Bautista Agut, the winner of his sixth ATP World Tour title at last week's Winston-Salem Open, beat Germany's Dustin Brown 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(3) in one hour and 48 minutes. Currently at a career-high No. 13 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, the Spaniard...
Fourth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares made a winning start to their US Open title defence as doubles action got under way Thursday at Flushing Meadows. The British-Brazilian duo closed out a 6-4, 7-6(6) win over Austrians Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya. Knowle won the US Open title in 2007 with Simon Aspelin, while Peya finished runner-up in 2013 alongside Soares (l. to Paes/Stepanek). Murray and Soares, who finished 2016 as the No. 1 duo, have won three titles from five finals this year. Ahead of the US Open, they reached the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final at the Western & Southern Open (l. to Herbert/Mahut). Top seeds and reigning Australian Open champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers...