OVERVIEW: US Open 2023
Sep. 11th, 2023 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllGathered from Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, YouTube and news sources.
All the Brits made it through to the second round for a wonder. Indeed, more than I expected made it through to round 3 – four! Evans, the one I expected to do best, would face Alcaraz in the third round, which he unsurprisingly lost, but Jack Draper, coming back from a shoulder injury, managed to win his match in four sets.
I was Gauff who stopped Wozniacki’s remarkable comeback run, while Ostapenko stopped Swiatek, meaning she wouldn’t defend this slam and would lose her no. 1 ranking to Sabalenka. (Djokovic had already regained his ranking as no. 1 by turning up, something his unvaccinated status had meant he couldn’t last year.) Swiatek’s loss was less surprising when you learned Ostapenko had won their three previous matches, and she has the game to beat anyone off the court if she gets it right…
Draper ran out of steam when faced with top 10 player Andrey Rublev (and the let cord) but should take the positives from having made it to the fourth round.
Madison Keys managed to blast Jessica Pegula off the court for two whole sets. Pegula was the no 3 seed (although Gauff, for instance, was probably a hotter favourite). The men seemed more stable (although Rune and Tsitsipas losing early was more of a surprise than Ruud), with the top 3 through to the quarters, and Zverev beating Sinner in five.
I heard most of Gauff thrashing Ostapenko – it was very quick – in their quarter final, although Ostapenko seemed to have some right on her side when she complained about the scheduling. Apparently, Gauff’s coaches/USTA had overridden the broadcasters to put the match on in the heat of the day, allowing Ostapenko less time to recover and a big change in conditions. The heat was increasingly a factor in these championships.
Keys beat Vondrousova in two, making her perhaps the surprise women’s semi finalist, although she is a former finalist, among Sabalenka, Muchova and Gauff. Ben Shelton was the surprise men’s semi finalist. The other three were Djokovic, Alcaraz and Medvedev, not just the top 3 players, but the last three champions here.
With all the talk of the heat making it difficult for different players, it is unsurprising that climate change protestors disrupted the Gauff v Muchova semi, but Gauff had the composure to beat Muchova again this summer. Keys hit Sabalenka off the court (!) in their first set and had the lead in the second, but Sabalenka used all her recent tough losses (at the French and Wimbledon) to keep believing, winning the last two sets in tie breaks to give herself a chance of being world no 1 and US Open champion.
Djokovic had enough to beat young Shelton in three sets – we shall see if he can back this run up in future. More surprisingly, Medevedev played brilliantly to beat Alcaraz in four. I know what I said in pique about hoping Djokovic and Alcaraz didn’t meet again here, but I felt bad after this result, although a rematch of Djokovic vs. Medvedev here is not bad.
And then Coco Gauff won her first grand slam, a home slam, the hard way. Sabalenka had won the first set, but it was more of a tussle in the second set, with Gauff’s athleticism a factor. I think it was tougher than the scoreline suggested – as it should be, meaning that Sabalenka’s ranking is a little tarnished, even though she’s one of the four grand slam champions and the most consistent player at those four tournaments, while Gauff has turned that potential we all saw into results this summer. Well done, her.
On the men’s side…Djokovic had too much game for Medvedev, being willing to come in and shorten points successfully. He got his revenge for the 2021 loss, winning in three, winning his third slam of the year and having been in all four finals. Oh, and he has 24 grand slam titles.
(It’s striking that he and Gauff are at very different stages of their careers.)
All the Brits made it through to the second round for a wonder. Indeed, more than I expected made it through to round 3 – four! Evans, the one I expected to do best, would face Alcaraz in the third round, which he unsurprisingly lost, but Jack Draper, coming back from a shoulder injury, managed to win his match in four sets.
I was Gauff who stopped Wozniacki’s remarkable comeback run, while Ostapenko stopped Swiatek, meaning she wouldn’t defend this slam and would lose her no. 1 ranking to Sabalenka. (Djokovic had already regained his ranking as no. 1 by turning up, something his unvaccinated status had meant he couldn’t last year.) Swiatek’s loss was less surprising when you learned Ostapenko had won their three previous matches, and she has the game to beat anyone off the court if she gets it right…
Draper ran out of steam when faced with top 10 player Andrey Rublev (and the let cord) but should take the positives from having made it to the fourth round.
Madison Keys managed to blast Jessica Pegula off the court for two whole sets. Pegula was the no 3 seed (although Gauff, for instance, was probably a hotter favourite). The men seemed more stable (although Rune and Tsitsipas losing early was more of a surprise than Ruud), with the top 3 through to the quarters, and Zverev beating Sinner in five.
I heard most of Gauff thrashing Ostapenko – it was very quick – in their quarter final, although Ostapenko seemed to have some right on her side when she complained about the scheduling. Apparently, Gauff’s coaches/USTA had overridden the broadcasters to put the match on in the heat of the day, allowing Ostapenko less time to recover and a big change in conditions. The heat was increasingly a factor in these championships.
Keys beat Vondrousova in two, making her perhaps the surprise women’s semi finalist, although she is a former finalist, among Sabalenka, Muchova and Gauff. Ben Shelton was the surprise men’s semi finalist. The other three were Djokovic, Alcaraz and Medvedev, not just the top 3 players, but the last three champions here.
With all the talk of the heat making it difficult for different players, it is unsurprising that climate change protestors disrupted the Gauff v Muchova semi, but Gauff had the composure to beat Muchova again this summer. Keys hit Sabalenka off the court (!) in their first set and had the lead in the second, but Sabalenka used all her recent tough losses (at the French and Wimbledon) to keep believing, winning the last two sets in tie breaks to give herself a chance of being world no 1 and US Open champion.
Djokovic had enough to beat young Shelton in three sets – we shall see if he can back this run up in future. More surprisingly, Medevedev played brilliantly to beat Alcaraz in four. I know what I said in pique about hoping Djokovic and Alcaraz didn’t meet again here, but I felt bad after this result, although a rematch of Djokovic vs. Medvedev here is not bad.
And then Coco Gauff won her first grand slam, a home slam, the hard way. Sabalenka had won the first set, but it was more of a tussle in the second set, with Gauff’s athleticism a factor. I think it was tougher than the scoreline suggested – as it should be, meaning that Sabalenka’s ranking is a little tarnished, even though she’s one of the four grand slam champions and the most consistent player at those four tournaments, while Gauff has turned that potential we all saw into results this summer. Well done, her.
On the men’s side…Djokovic had too much game for Medvedev, being willing to come in and shorten points successfully. He got his revenge for the 2021 loss, winning in three, winning his third slam of the year and having been in all four finals. Oh, and he has 24 grand slam titles.
(It’s striking that he and Gauff are at very different stages of their careers.)
