TENNIS: The North American swing mainly
Aug. 19th, 2025 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllI am aware that Bublik and Boisson made it to finals in the tournaments that were on the week after Wimbledon (I don’t know on what surfaces they were played.)
The north American swing started in Washington, where apparently it was extremely hot. Lots of American women (the oldest being Venus Williams), who didn’t do that well; the American men did better. I noted that Davidovych Fokina and Fritz met AGAIN in the third tournament running, but this time DF actually won. Raducanu had her best result here, getting to the semis, and had she won, she would have either faced her doubles partner at the tournament (Rybakina) or the player she beat to win her grand slam (Fernandez). As it was, Fernandez played Kalinskaya in the final, or rather, outplayed her and won. Davidovych Fokina was playing De Minaur, winning the first set, but De Minaur ran away with the second. DF was serving for the match, but couldn’t win the game, then had three championship points on De Minaur, who would not lose, and ended up winning the tournament, his ninth after a rough two months. But Davidovych Fokina has yet to win a tour title.
The other story rumbling in the background was that quite a few top players were pulling out of the Canada Open and Cincinnati, both Masters events, which have been stretched to a week and a half, proof that the schedule is putting too much strain on top tennis players’ bodies.
Fernandez came to Canada and got beaten by Joint (retaliating for a loss in Washington.) Canadian teenage powerhouse Victoria Mboko arrived by thrashing Gauff, the top seed, in round 3, and then, having beaten Rybakina in the semis, made her way to the Montreal final, where she’d meet Osaka, who had finally, finally got a run going at one of the Masters – was it the very recent change of coach? I noted that she had been coming in in some points that made it to the highlights videos. Osaka took the first set, and that, like the second, was close, but Mboko won that to draw level, and ran away with the third. Dream come true to beat Grand Slam champions in front of a home crowd at a Masters event. What next for her?
In the Toronto semis, Khachenov beat the higher ranked Zverev, and Shelton thrashed the higher ranked fellow American Fritz. (Not a surprise that the top seeds made a far deeper run in the men’s tournament than the women’s.) The two finalists locked horns in three close sets, but it was Shelton who won the third set tiebreak and the tournament.
Out very early in Cincinnati, as in round 2, their first round, Musetti, who hasn’t been having a great summer, Ruud, who is coming back from injury, and Medvedev. Atmane would beat Fritz in three in a shock result, while Zverev was on the way of revenging himself on Khachenov when the latter pulled out due to injury.
Shelton hit a wall, and despite not being 100% himself, physically, Zverev took advantage. Alcaraz and Sinner were through to the semis (you can guess which one did it in three sets and which in two, even if the ranking of their opponents differed a lot), but so was French qualifier Atmane, who beat Rune in two sets.
In the women’s quarters, Rybakina beat Sabalenka, quite easily as it turned out. I think it was at this stage that Gauff exited.
In the semis, Alcaraz was in charge (when he was on it) against Zverev, who looked like he was physically ailing by the end. In his breakthrough tournament, Atmane pushed Sinner to a tiebreak in the first set, but lost that and the next set, setting up a rematch between the top 2.
Rybakina got the first break in her semi against Swiatek, but Swiatek upped her level to win the first set and then the second. This meant she'd be facing Paolini in the final.
To her credit, Paolini started well, Swiatek fought back, drew level and then took a lead, although it was on her second chance that she took the set. The second set was competitive, until it wasn’t, and Swiatek won her first tournament after Wimbledon, and for her first time here. ETA: she didn't drop a set.
In the men’s final, Alcaraz broke, backed it up, broke, backed it up again, and by the time he was up 5-0, it was clear Sinner wasn’t right, and retired due to illness. Not the way Alcaraz wanted to win his first Cincinnati Masters, but it should be noted he's been to the final of the last seven tournaments he's played. Most of that is brought to you by highlights videos on YouTube.
On to the US Open and the mixed doubles experiment. I was all set to have Sinner down as the clear favourite, but it depends how quickly he recovers. Alcaraz doesn’t quite know what his level is as his last two toughest opponents were hampered. Who knows with Djokovic – he hasn’t played since Wimbledon, but that doesn’t mean much, he’s had a great year in the Grand Slams if you’re not hunting for your twenty-fifth. It probably means more that Draper hasn’t played either. Zverev and Fritz have wobbled, though I’ve been impressed by Shelton.
The women’s side was a bit more open: Sabalenka is still no. 1, but the defending champion has had issues at grand slams this year, which only adds to the pressure. Swiatek is on her way back up, so maybe they're the top two favourites. Gauff hasn’t done much since the French relatively speaking, but it’s women’s tennis, I could totally buy there being four different champions this year – Rybakina has been improving, Paolini played herself into form at Cincinnati, don’t discount Anisimova or Keys or Whoever.
The north American swing started in Washington, where apparently it was extremely hot. Lots of American women (the oldest being Venus Williams), who didn’t do that well; the American men did better. I noted that Davidovych Fokina and Fritz met AGAIN in the third tournament running, but this time DF actually won. Raducanu had her best result here, getting to the semis, and had she won, she would have either faced her doubles partner at the tournament (Rybakina) or the player she beat to win her grand slam (Fernandez). As it was, Fernandez played Kalinskaya in the final, or rather, outplayed her and won. Davidovych Fokina was playing De Minaur, winning the first set, but De Minaur ran away with the second. DF was serving for the match, but couldn’t win the game, then had three championship points on De Minaur, who would not lose, and ended up winning the tournament, his ninth after a rough two months. But Davidovych Fokina has yet to win a tour title.
The other story rumbling in the background was that quite a few top players were pulling out of the Canada Open and Cincinnati, both Masters events, which have been stretched to a week and a half, proof that the schedule is putting too much strain on top tennis players’ bodies.
Fernandez came to Canada and got beaten by Joint (retaliating for a loss in Washington.) Canadian teenage powerhouse Victoria Mboko arrived by thrashing Gauff, the top seed, in round 3, and then, having beaten Rybakina in the semis, made her way to the Montreal final, where she’d meet Osaka, who had finally, finally got a run going at one of the Masters – was it the very recent change of coach? I noted that she had been coming in in some points that made it to the highlights videos. Osaka took the first set, and that, like the second, was close, but Mboko won that to draw level, and ran away with the third. Dream come true to beat Grand Slam champions in front of a home crowd at a Masters event. What next for her?
In the Toronto semis, Khachenov beat the higher ranked Zverev, and Shelton thrashed the higher ranked fellow American Fritz. (Not a surprise that the top seeds made a far deeper run in the men’s tournament than the women’s.) The two finalists locked horns in three close sets, but it was Shelton who won the third set tiebreak and the tournament.
Out very early in Cincinnati, as in round 2, their first round, Musetti, who hasn’t been having a great summer, Ruud, who is coming back from injury, and Medvedev. Atmane would beat Fritz in three in a shock result, while Zverev was on the way of revenging himself on Khachenov when the latter pulled out due to injury.
Shelton hit a wall, and despite not being 100% himself, physically, Zverev took advantage. Alcaraz and Sinner were through to the semis (you can guess which one did it in three sets and which in two, even if the ranking of their opponents differed a lot), but so was French qualifier Atmane, who beat Rune in two sets.
In the women’s quarters, Rybakina beat Sabalenka, quite easily as it turned out. I think it was at this stage that Gauff exited.
In the semis, Alcaraz was in charge (when he was on it) against Zverev, who looked like he was physically ailing by the end. In his breakthrough tournament, Atmane pushed Sinner to a tiebreak in the first set, but lost that and the next set, setting up a rematch between the top 2.
Rybakina got the first break in her semi against Swiatek, but Swiatek upped her level to win the first set and then the second. This meant she'd be facing Paolini in the final.
To her credit, Paolini started well, Swiatek fought back, drew level and then took a lead, although it was on her second chance that she took the set. The second set was competitive, until it wasn’t, and Swiatek won her first tournament after Wimbledon, and for her first time here. ETA: she didn't drop a set.
In the men’s final, Alcaraz broke, backed it up, broke, backed it up again, and by the time he was up 5-0, it was clear Sinner wasn’t right, and retired due to illness. Not the way Alcaraz wanted to win his first Cincinnati Masters, but it should be noted he's been to the final of the last seven tournaments he's played. Most of that is brought to you by highlights videos on YouTube.
On to the US Open and the mixed doubles experiment. I was all set to have Sinner down as the clear favourite, but it depends how quickly he recovers. Alcaraz doesn’t quite know what his level is as his last two toughest opponents were hampered. Who knows with Djokovic – he hasn’t played since Wimbledon, but that doesn’t mean much, he’s had a great year in the Grand Slams if you’re not hunting for your twenty-fifth. It probably means more that Draper hasn’t played either. Zverev and Fritz have wobbled, though I’ve been impressed by Shelton.
The women’s side was a bit more open: Sabalenka is still no. 1, but the defending champion has had issues at grand slams this year, which only adds to the pressure. Swiatek is on her way back up, so maybe they're the top two favourites. Gauff hasn’t done much since the French relatively speaking, but it’s women’s tennis, I could totally buy there being four different champions this year – Rybakina has been improving, Paolini played herself into form at Cincinnati, don’t discount Anisimova or Keys or Whoever.
