Tag: US Open 2022

NEW YORK: Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz claimed his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open on Sunday and became the youngest man to ascend to the world number one ranking.

The 19-year-old dragged his weary body to a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 victory over Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final.

Alcaraz, the first teenager to claim the top ranking, is the youngest Grand Slam men’s champion since Rafael Nadal at the 2005 French Open after a performance which yielded 55 winners and 14 aces.

On a day of landmarks, he is also the youngest champion in New York since Pete Sampras in 1990.

It was a gruelling tournament for Alcaraz who claimed the record for most time spent on court at a single Grand Slam event, passing the 23 hours and 21 minutes it took Kevin Anderson to finish runner-up at Wimbledon in 2018.

Defeat for Ruud, who was also vying for the world number one ranking, was his second in a Slam final this year after he was routed by Nadal in the French Open.

With the roof closed, the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd observed a moving moment’s silence on the 21st anniversary of the September 11 attacks before the final got off to a tentative start.

Both men saved break points in their opening service games before Alcaraz gained the only break of the first set for a key 3-1 lead.

Ruud dropped the set but triumphed in terms of sportsmanship when he called a double bounce on himself in the eighth game, conceding the point to the Spaniard.

Alcaraz served it out to love and a one set lead courtesy of his 13 winners to six for the Norwegian.

The Spanish teenager, who went into the final with a 2-0 winning record over Ruud, squandered a break point at 2-2 in the second set.

Ruud made him pay, edging ahead for 4-2 and then levelling the final on a second set point after another careless Alcaraz drop-shot opened the court invitingly for the Norwegian.

At that moment, Alcaraz had been on court at the tournament for almost 22 hours, passing the mark set by Andy Murray when the Briton claimed the 2012 title.

He was ahead for 2-0 in the third set before Ruud hit back.

The 23-year-old Norwegian had two set points in an 11-minute 12th game but was unable to convert as Alcaraz put away inch-perfect, back-to-back volleys.

Alcaraz made the most of his reprieve, racing through to his first tiebreak success of the tournament as Ruud’s game fell suddenly apart.

The Spaniard sensed his chance, breaking for 4-2 in the fourth set before taking his aces count to 12 to lead 5-2.

Ruud held to love but Alcaraz claimed his slice of history on a second match point before collapsing to the court in celebration.

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NEW YORK: Carlos Alcaraz defeated Frances Tiafoe in a gladiatorial US Open semi-final on Friday, setting up a showdown for the title and world number one ranking against Casper Ruud.

The 19-year-old Spaniard triumphed 6-7 (6/8), 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 to become the youngest men’s Grand Slam finalist since compatriot Rafael Nadal captured the first of his 22 Slams at the 2005 French Open.

Norway’s seventh-ranked Ruud earlier defeated Russia’s Karen Khachanov 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to also reach his first Grand Slam final.

Tiafoe went down fighting, however, saving three match points and retrieving breaks in both of the last two sets.

“We are in the semi-final of a Grand Slam, we have to give everything we have inside, we have to fight until the last ball,” said Alcaraz, the youngest US Open finalist since Pete Sampras in 1990.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re fighting for five hours or six hours. It doesn’t matter, you have to give everything on the court.”

For Alcaraz, who unleashed 59 winners, it was his third successive five-setter as he closes in on a maiden Slam and becoming the youngest ever world number one.

“It’s my first time in a final of a Grand Slam. I can see the number one in the world, but at the same time it’s so far away,” he added.

“I’m going to give everything that I have. I will have to handle the nerves of being in the final of a Grand Slam but obviously I’m really happy.”

“I gave everything I had, too good from Carlos tonight,” said Tiafoe.

“Honestly I came here wanting to win the US Open, I feel like I let you guys down. This one really hurts.”

Alcaraz saw two break points come and go in the seventh game of the opener before needing to save a set point in the 12th which featured a breathtaking rally that the Spaniard claimed from two seemingly losing positions.

The teenager saved three more set points in the tiebreak but Tiafoe converted his fifth when Alcaraz served up his third double fault of the 64-minute opener.

Alcaraz saved a break point in the third game of the second set, at one stage stretching for a winning point with his back facing Tiafoe to win another memorable rally.

His flamboyance was rewarded when he broke for 4-2 on his way to levelling the semi-final thanks to Tiafoe burying a return in the net.

Alcaraz had needed nine hours and 10 sets in his last two rounds, including a quarter-final which finished at 2:50 a.m. Thursday, to reach the semi-final.

However, he looked the fresher of the two men when he raced to a double break, 4-0 lead in the third set, allowing Tiafoe just three points.

For good measure, Alcaraz broke the American a third time in the seventh game.

World number 26 Tiafoe, who knocked Nadal out of the tournament in the last-16, was hoping to become the first American man in a major final since Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in 2009.

He gamely retrieved two breaks in the fourth set, saved a match point in the 10th game with a nerveless drop shot before claiming the tiebreak to send the clash into a decider.

It was an eighth successful tiebreak out of eight for the American.

Alcaraz broke for 2-0 in the fifth set only for Tiafoe to again claw his way back to 2-2.

The American, however, double-faulted to hand the advantage back in the fifth game.

Tiafoe saved two more match points in the ninth game before Alcaraz went on to seal victory in four hours and 19 minutes when his opponent netted a weary backhand.

Ruud will be appearing in his second Grand Slam final of the season after finishing runner-up to Nadal at the French Open in June.

“After Roland Garros, I was extremely happy but at the same time humble enough to think that could be my only final in a Grand Slam in my career,” said Ruud.

“They don’t come easy. So here I am a couple of months later – it feels beyond words to describe.”

The 23-year-old Norwegian set the tone for his dominance early in the semi-final when he came out on top in a 55-shot rally to convert a third set point in the opening tiebreak which his Russian rival described as “crazy”.

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NEW YORK: World number one Iga Swiatek reached her first US Open semi-final on Wednesday with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) win over Jessica Pegula of the United States.

The French Open champion will face Aryna Sabalenka for a place in Saturday’s final after making the last-four of a Slam for the third time in 2022.

“That will be a very tough match. There will be some fast serves and heavy hitting, just like tonight,” said Swiatek

In a mistake-filled quarter-final on Wednesday, there were 13 breaks of serve and a combined 61 unforced errors.

“It means a lot to be in the semi-finals for the first time,” said Swiatek.

“I am very happy as I have worked very hard but have kept my expectations low.

“It was a really tight match. I tried to push her back but she was putting pressure on me so that’s what it went to a tiebreak.”

Swiatek overcame giving up the first break of the match in the fifth game to reel off 16 of the next 18 points to claim the opening set in 38 minutes.

The 21-year-old Pole and American eighth seed exchanged three service breaks apiece in the first eight games in an untidy second set.

It was the French Open champion who carved out the seventh break on a net cord to give herself the opportunity to serve for the match.

Eighth-ranked Pegula roused herself to stay alive in the contest before a double fault on break point in the 11th game handed Swiatek a second opportunity to seal a spot in the semi-finals.

The top seed failed again as Pegula sealed the 10th break to send the set into a tiebreak which the Pole dominated to clinch a third win over the American this year.

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NEW YORK: Serena Williams bowed out of the US Open and headed into retirement on Friday after a battling loss to Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.

On another night of searing emotion in the Billie Jean King Tennis Center’s main Arthur Ashe Stadium, 23-time Grand Slam champion Williams finally met her match in Tomljanovic, losing 7-5, 6-7 (4/7) 6-1 in an attritional slug-fest lasting more than three hours.

The defeat was almost certainly Williams’ last ever appearance in a Grand Slam singles event, the final act of a 27-year professional career that saw the 40-year-old American become a sporting and cultural icon who many believe is the greatest women’s tennis player in history.

“It’s been a fun ride,” a clearly emotional Williams said in an on-court interview following her loss.

“It’s been the most incredible ride and the journey I’ve ever been on, I mean, in my life.

“I’m just so grateful to every single person that’s ever said, ‘Go, Serena,’ in their life. You got me here.”

Although Williams has not definitively announced her retirement, she said in a Vogue magazine essay last month that she would “evolve” away from tennis after the US Open.

Williams said Friday that she was excited by the prospect of her life after tennis.

“I’m ready to, like, be a mom, explore a different version of Serena,” she said.

“Technically in the world, I’m still super young, so I want to have a little bit of a life while I’m still walking.”

Golf superstar Tiger Woods and former US first lady Michelle Obama were among a legion of admirers who paid tribute to Williams following her US Open exit.

“[Serena Williams] you’re literally the greatest on and off the court,” tweeted Woods.

“Thank you for inspiring all of us to pursue our dreams.”

Obama meanwhile saluted Williams’ rise from the gritty Los Angeles neighbourhood of Compton to the pinnacle of her sport.

“Congrats on amazing career, [Serena Williams]! How lucky were we to be able to watch a young girl from Compton grow up to become one of the greatest athletes of all time,” tweeted Obama.

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NEW YORK: Rafael Nadal overcame a freak injury scare when he accidentally hit himself with his own racquet to reach the US Open third round on Thursday as Serena Williams saw one chapter of her epic tennis journey close.

Nadal defeated Italy’s Fabio Fognini 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 but only after suffering a bizarre self-inflicted injury when leading 3-0 in the fourth set.

The four-time champion, and holder of a men’s record 22 Grand Slam titles, was hurt when his racquet bounced back off the court as he stretched for a ball and hit him squarely on the nose.

The 36-year-old Australian and French Open champion dropped his racquet to the Arthur Ashe Stadium floor and sprinted to the sidelines where he lay on his back with his nose bloodied.

He required a medical timeout to have the wound tended before resuming with a bandage across the bridge of his nose.

“I was a little bit dizzy and it was a little bit painful,” said Nadal, who said he had suffered a similar injury in the past caused by a golf club.

Nadal said that despite being a set and 4-2 down, he was happy to have recovered after coming into the tournament still worried by the abdominal injury he suffered at Wimbledon.

“I had to play better. It was one of the worst starts ever for me,” he said.

“It has been tough in the last month so I knew these kind of things can happen.”

For the first time since 2018, Serena and Venus Williams revived a partnership which has brought them 14 doubles titles at the majors.

However, their hopes of collecting a third crown in New York were dashed in a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 defeat to Czech pairing Linda Noskova and Lucie Hradecka.

The loss leaves 40-year-old Serena free to focus on what is widely expected to be the final singles campaign of her landmark 27-year career before retirement.

On Friday, the 23-time Slam singles winner will face Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic for a place in the fourth round.

Serena and her 42-year-old sister went down fighting, clawing back from 1-4 down in the second set before the Czech pair steadied the ship.

NEW YORK: Serena Williams roared into the third round of the US Open on Wednesday, overpowering second seed Anett Kontaveit with a battling performance to extend her Grand Slam singles career in dramatic fashion.

The 40-year-old tennis icon — who has signalled she plans to retire after the tournament — drew on all her reserves of resilience and sheer fighting spirit to take down Kontaveit with a 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 6-2 at an electric Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Kontaveit appeared to have gained the upper hand over the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion after levelling the match at 1-1 with a dominant second-set display.

But Williams showed her champion’s mentality to yank back momentum in the decider, breaking Kontaveit twice before closing out victory to leave a sell-out crowd featuring the likes of golf superstar Tiger Woods on its feet.

“You know this is what I do best,” a delighted Williams said after her win.

“I love a challenge and love rising to the challenge. I haven’t played many matches but I’ve been practising really well and in my last few matches it just wasn’t coming together…But the last couple of matches here in New York it’s really come together.”

Williams admitted she had feared the worst after she was unable to respond as Kontaveit upped her game to take the second set.

“I thought ‘Oh my goodness, I’ve got to give my best effort because this could be it,” Williams said. “I just wanted to keep trying and see what I could do and do my best.”

Williams, who won the first of her Grand Slam singles titles as a 17-year-old at the US Open in 1999, said she was now playing with no pressure with the finish line of her remarkable career in sight.

“I don’t have anything to prove, I don’t have anything to win. I have absolutely nothing to lose,” she said.

Williams will return to Arthur Ashe on Thursday to take part in the women’s doubles, where she will reunite with elder sister Venus for the first time since 2018.

Kontaveit meanwhile admitted she had been rattled by a ferociously partisan New York crowd.

“I expected it but it was really hard,” Kontaveit said. “I knew it was coming. It was something I’d never experienced before.”

Serena’s victory once again stole the show on day three of the tournament.

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NEW YORK: Emma Raducanu became only the third defending champion to exit the US Open in the first round on Tuesday while four-time winner Rafael Nadal overcame an early scare against a player ranked 198 in the world.

Raducanu, 19, slumped to a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to veteran French player Alize Cornet who is competing in a record 63rd consecutive Grand Slam.

Nadal saw off Australian wildcard Rinky Hijikata 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 to register his 65th career win in New York.

Also going through to a politically-charged clash were three-time runner-up Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.

Raducanu has struggled in the spotlight of being a Grand Slam winner, failing to get beyond the second round of any of the previous three majors in 2022.

“In a way, I’m happy because it’s a clean slate. The target will be off my back,” said the teenager.

World number three Nadal, who is chasing a 23rd Grand Slam title and third of 2022, arrived at the tournament having played just one match since an abdominal injury forced him to forfeit his Wimbledon semi-final.

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NEW YORK: US tennis great Serena Williams announced on Tuesday that “the countdown has begun” to her retirement from the sport.

“There comes a time in life when we have to decide to move in a different direction,” the 40-year-old, 23-time Grand Slam winner said in a post on Instagram.

“That time is always hard when you love something so much. My goodness do I enjoy tennis. But now, the countdown has begun.

“I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals and finally discovering a different, but just exciting Serena. I’m gonna relish these next few weeks.”

Williams won the last of her 23 Slams at the 2017 Australian Open when she was already pregnant with her daughter, Olympia.

However, she has failed to add a 24th major which would take her level with Margaret Court’s all-time record.

Her final attempt will come at the US Open in New York later this month.

Williams stepped onto a hardcourt for the first time in a year and a half on Monday in the WTA Toronto tournament where she fought through to the second round with a straight sets victory over Nuria Parrizas Diaz.

It was her first singles victory since the 2021 French Open, some 14 months ago.

The former world number one had played her first singles match in a year following a lengthy injury layoff during a first-round defeat at Wimbledon in June.

Earlier Tuesday, Williams wrote in the September edition of Vogue where she was featured on the cover that she was “evolving away” from the sport after the US Open where she has won six of her major singles titles.

“Unfortunately I wasn’t ready to win Wimbledon this year,” she wrote in Vogue.

“And I don’t know if I will be ready to win New York. But I’m going to try. And the lead-up tournaments will be fun. I know there’s a fan fantasy that I might have tied Margaret that day in London, then maybe beat her record in New York, and then at the trophy ceremony say, 3See ya!3 I get that. It’s a good fantasy.

“But I’m not looking for some ceremonial, final on-court moment. I’m terrible at goodbyes, the world’s worst.”

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BELGRADE: The top Serbian seed Novak Djokovic, who edged past Nick Kyrgios in a four-set victory to claim his seventh overall and fourth consecutive Wimbledon title on Sunday is likely to miss the forthcoming US Open, scheduled next month.

Former top-ranked Tennis player Djokovic, who was deported from Australia in January and could not defend his title following his stance on vaccination status, is likely to miss another grand slam.

As the 35-year-old has profusely refused to get vaccinated a number of times, is unlikely to partake in the forthcoming grand slam as the Wimbledon champion may not be allowed in the country, while is hoping for positive news.

“At the moment I can’t go to the United States, I’m hoping for positive news, but there’s not a lot of time, I don’t know, hope springs eternal,” he told Serbian broadcasters RTS.

“I’d like to play the US Open but if it doesn’t happen it’s not the end of the world, nor the first Grand Slam I have to withdraw from.

“It’s important to me to stay healthy, physically and mentally, so I can still play for a long time and the chances to do so will certainly come,” he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that Djokovic, with his seventh Wimbledon title, has inched closer to the Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the list of most grand slam titles. The Spaniard tops the list with 22 titles, while the Serb is just one away with 21.

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