ATP
Tommy Paul takes his time in closing out match
It took Tommy Paul two hours between his first match point and his second to close out a nail-biting win into the US Open third round which lasted past the midnight hour and into Friday.
The junior finalist a decade ago at Flushing Meadows took his time – and not by choice – in finally eliminating unseeded Nuno Borges, 7-6 (6), 6-3, 5-7, 5-7, 7-5. He missed a pair of match points leading 5-4 in the third which would have resulted in a straight-sets success
The 14th seed admitted he made life more difficult for himself but was relieved to go through: “I’m a little bit tired right now,’’ he admitted.
Paul lost here a decade ago in the junior final to longtime and still current rival Taylor Fritz.
Paul’s two third-set match point chances came and went as Portugal’s Borges took the contest into a fourth set, with Paul finally getting the job done as he won the eventual five-setter.
The 14th seed finally found an edge with a break in the final set for a 3-0 lead which paved the way for victory after four and a half hours.
“It was pretty tough today, especially when you are up two sets to love,’’ Paul said. “You never want to lose a match like that. It was definitely cool to get the win.’’
Paul came to his home major with little preparation following a foot injury at Wimbledon and just one entry at the pre-Open Cincinnati event.
He now faces another tough test as he faces on-form Alexander Bublik, winner of three summer titles..
The hard times on court continued for Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No. 28 who once stood in the ranking top 10.
The Greek who is again controversially coached by his father after the pair split last August, was taken down by Daniel Altmaier,with the German saving a match point in the fifth set before solidifying a 7-6(5), 1-6, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win with 15 aces..
New York is the only major where Tsitsipas has failed to reach the round of 16.
Altmaier will now line up against Australian eighth seed Alex de Minaur, who beat Japanese qualifier Shintaro Mochizuki 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
In the women’s draw, third seed Coco Gauff managed her emotions to move into the third round 7-6 (5), 6-2 over Donna Vekic.
The American had to re-group after a tense opening set where she somehow felt overwhelmed after serving seven double-faults and losing serve four times.
“I was just trying to tell myself to breathe, I don’t remember a lot of the end of the first set, to be honest,” Gauff said.
“It’s kind of amazing that I was able to get out of that one. But once I was able to reset, I went to the bathroom and splashed some water on my face.
“After that I felt a lot better out here,” she said after escaping through breaks of Vekic while the Croat was serving for the set.
The seed was a different player when she returned to the court, holding onto her serve all the way to the narrow win.
Wimbledon finalist Amanda Anisimova booked the third round here for the first time in five years, defeating Maya Joint 7-6 (2), 6-2.
Two-time champion Casper Ruud had to work for more than two and a half hours to overcome Jaime Faria, the Portuguese who put out Stan Wawrinka in the first round at the Gstaad Swiss Open on Thursday.
Faria was riding the momentum from Tuesday’s defeat of three-time Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka, set to retire this season and beaten in an opening match at his home venue.
Faria had his eye on a second upset as he faced Ruud, who lifted the trophy at this elite alpine village in 2021 and 2022.
Ruud ahd to dodge a bullet and mount a comeback to get through the second-round test against the Portuguese.
After dropping the opening set in a tiebreaker, Ruud played patiently as Faria saved five break points in the sixth game of the second set before failing on the sixth.
Ruud then pulled away for a 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 victory, his first since Roland Garros.
“Sometimes it is hard to say when you get a good feeling and you start to win some games in a row,” the winner said.
“You try from the first game to the last, but suddenly something clicked in the middle of the second for me, luckily.”
He added: “I had to really fight hard and if I played one bad game in the second and he serves well, it could be over and it would be time to go home. But luckily I can extend the stay.”
The Scandinavian could join Spaniards Sergi Bruguera and Alex Corretja as three-time winners in the Alps, with Ruud now standing 10-1 here over his career.
Stefanost Tsitsipas said he slept soundly prior to finishing off a darkness-interrupted match on Thursday as he eliminated local Jerome Kym at the Gstaad Swiss Open.
The Greek who once cracked third in the world and the 186th-ranked Swiss returned to the clay after darkness on Wednesday night left them hanging at 5-all in the third set.
Tsitsipas revved up his game from the resumption to emerge into the quarter-finals 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
The second seed now standing 85th in the world after several poor seasons and a split with his father as his coach, said getting his rest was not a problem after the interruption.
“It was strange going to bed and not being finished. I visualised what I wanted to do, my shot patterns.
“It worked out pretty well.
“I had a good night’s sleep, I was not too stressed and I recovered to get ready for the continuation.”
After saving break points in the first game on Thursday, Tsitsipas triumphed in the final-set tiebreaker
“I’m relieved I was able to save a couple of break points.. I put my game together and made it )victory) happen again.”
The Greek now faces off against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech for a semi-final spot.
“I’m expecting a lot of big serves, the altitude (1050m) helps. I’ll try to build consistency around my own serve.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas was handed a reprieve due to fading light with his second round match at the Swiss Open Gstaad stopped with the Greek deadlocked with local Jerome Kym 6-4, 6-7 (2), 5-5.
The math had to be halted as night fell and electronic linecalling computers could not read the path of the ball on the clay in contrast to humans who could have carried on for a few additional minutes..
The 27-year-old Tsitsipas was taking the worst of it in the concluding stage after a promising start.against a journeyman opponent ranked 186.
Tsitsipas, his ranking down to 85th after once standing third in the world, lashed out verbally in the last few games, apparently frustrated with his racquet reactions.
The Greek was quick to make his point of an overnight stoppage to the chair umpire while Kym – who reached 5-all with a love service hold – left the court with a defiant fist pump for his public in this alpine resort village.
The cutoff came after just over two hours of play, with the contest to be concluded on Thursday. The winner reaches the Friday quarter-finals.
Tsitsipas produced his last notable result in April with a fourth-round showing at the Madrid Masters,
He is aiming for his second quarter-final of the season after Doha in February and his 2025 Barcelona 15 months ago.
Tsitsipas stands 10-1 vs. players ranked outside the top 100 this season with a sole loss to No. 104 Italian Matteo Arnaldi at the Roland Garros second round.
History repeats for Argentine spoiler in Gstaad
Ruud survives a scare to secure Gstaad quarters
Tsitsipas finishes off Kym after overnight pause
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