Rafael Nadal has been killed in the eighth finals of the US Open. The Spanish top tennis player choked on the American service gun Frances Tiafoe: 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. He will meet Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals of the tournament in his home country.
Nadal, who won the tournament in New York four times, started the match against Tiafoe moderately. The 36-year-old Spaniard lost the first set 6-4. Even though he tied the score in set two, Nadal continued to struggle. The final blow came in set four. Thanks in part to hard services and strong passing, he staggered Nadal, who was sloppy.
The Spaniard turned out to be unable to put a stop to that in the last set. Precisely in Nadal’s service game, Tiafoe came on match point by leading 40-0. The American messed up his first match point, but then saw Nadal hit the point into the net.
“I don’t know what to say, I’m almost in tears after a win over one of the greatest tennis players of all time,” said Tiafoe. ,,I played incredible tennis, but I don’t really know what just happened. When I was leading 4-3 in the fourth set, it seemed like my legs were made of cement. It means so much to me to show this to all my loved ones.”
Tiafoe has reached the quarterfinals of a grand slam only once before. The American tennis player, who occupies 26th place in the ATP ranking, stranded in the last eight of the Australian Open in 2019. It was Nadal’s first loss of the season at Grand Slam level. He won the Australian Open and Roland Garros this year and gave up in the Wimbledon semifinals with an abdominal muscle injury.
Nadal hoped to increase his lead over competitor Novak Djokovic during the last grand slam of the year. The Serb has won 21 grand slams. Nadal was in the running to increase his tally to 23.
“I’m going home now because I have more important things on my mind than tennis. I want to end the year with something really beautiful and that’s my first child,” said Nadal. “I don’t know when I’ll be back. I’m going to try to be mentally ready. If I feel like I’m ready to get back into the competition, I’ll be there again.”
,,The difference today is simple: I played a bad game and he played a good one. I wasn’t able to play a high level tennis over an extended period of time. I wasn’t fast enough in my movements. He could play the ball back too many times, too fast, so I couldn’t put any pressure on him. Your position is very important in tennis. You have to be very, very fast and very young. I am no more.”
Immersive battle between Alcaraz and Cilic
Carlos Alcaraz defeated Croatian Marin Cilic in a thrilling fight over five sets to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open. The match at Arthur Ashe Stadium lasted nearly 4 hours and ended well after midnight in New York. The set scores were 6-4 3-6 6-4 4-6 6-3.
,,It was quite tough”, said Alcaraz shortly after the match. “It was difficult to come back after losing that fourth set and also falling behind at the start of the fifth set, but I kept believing in myself,” said the Spaniard, who will face the if in the quarterfinals. eleventh-placed Jannik Sinner.
The 21-year-old Italian needed five sets to get rid of Belarus Ilya Ivashka (6-1 5-7 6-2 4-6 6-3). Sinner had to go deep for the win, because in the fifth set he was 3-1 behind against Ivashka, the number 73 in the world. He went on to win five games in a row.
Arina Sabalenka and Karolina Pliskova
In the women’s tournament, Arina Sabalenka and Karolina Pliskova reached the last eight. The two will also face each other in the quarterfinals. Sabalenka from Belarus, seeded sixth in New York, defeated American crowd favorite Danielle Collins in three sets: 3-6 6-3 6-2. Sabalenka reached the semifinals at the US Open last year. Czech Pliskova beat Viktoria Azarenka from Belarus in three sets: 7-5 6-7 (5) 6-2. The 30-year-old Pliskova lost the final of the US Open to the German Angelique Kerber in the 2016 US Open.
Polish Iga Swiatek has secured a place in the quarterfinals of the US Open for the first time. The number 1 in the world had a lot of trouble getting rid of the German Jule Niemeier, but did win in three sets: 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.
Swiatek (21) will face American Jessica Pegula in the last eight, who defeated Czech Petra Kvitova 6-3 6-2 earlier in the day.
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