Errani beat Venus 6-0 in the first set, and Venus won the second set 6-0. Naturally they are now in a tiebreak in the third set.
Errani won. That was an excellent tiebreak and there were some outstanding points in the last few. Meanwhile Simona Halep (#2) lost to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. If you remember Lucic-Baroni, it’s because she made the Wimbledon semis in 1999 at age 17. She did not appear in a single major from 2003 to 2009 but is close to the top 100 again at age 32. Angelique Kerber (#6) is also on the brink…
Venus played a lot of tennis, over those two days. She’s still in doubles.
Kvitova lost to a qualifier.
She did. Krunic is 21 and she looked fantastic in the part of the match I saw. Is this another breakout performance? On a related note, this is the player who beat Kerber: I’ve heard people talk about Bencic as a potential future star. She’s 17 and she is the youngest player in seven years to reach the third round of a major. The Swiss seem to have a pretty good tennis program.
Isner v. His nemesis Kohlscheiber…
And he loses again. This is the third year in a row that Kohlschreiber has beaten Isner in the third round at the US Open. I don’t know if anything like that has ever happened at an early stage of a major. It’s one thing if it happens in the semis of the finals, but the odds would seem to be strongly against it.
Errani just took out Lucic-Baroni 6-0 in the third. There was a story on the men’s side that was almost as heartwarming as Lucic-Baroni, by the way: Victor Estrella Burgos, a Dominican player who is having a career year at age 34. He got into the French Open and Wimbledon this year - those were his first two majors ever - but lost in the first round. In NY he beat Igor Sijsling in four sets and then beat a qualifier named Borna Coric in four. Coric is half Estrella Burgos’ age. He lost to Milos Raonic yesterday but he gave him a hell of a fight. All three sets went to tiebreaks. Estrella Burgos is inside the top 80 for the first time in his career and I assume he’ll go higher now.
It’s been a long time since Caroline Wozniacki got any headlines for playing good tennis as opposed to being stuck in the “how did she get to be #1?” debate or this whole thing with her ex-fiance. But she just beat Maria Sharapova to make the quarters, and she’ll play Errani next. Federer dumped the first set against Granollers in some tough weather - they say he looked horrible the first couple of games - but after the rain delay he won the second set easily and is up a break in the early third.
Must have been a hiccup for Roger in the first. He’s in great form! Dimitrov:confused:no show in the first set against Goffin.
Dimitrov bounced back nicely, too. And Bencic upsets Jankovic! She’s into the quarterfinals against Peng.
Since when did they have tiebreaks for deciding sets in slams? Or is this just a US Open thing?
Just a US Open thing.
I think the US Open has used them since 1970. There’s periodic debate over whether the other majors should, but they don’t.
Wow, can’t believe that one has passed me by all my life, thanks! I know there is an ongoing debate about introducing them in other slams, just had no idea the US Open was already using them. I presume TV scheduling was (and is) the main reason behind the change. I wonder if there is any merit in moving to the new Champions Tiebreak for 6-6 at deciding sets in slams (or perhaps just the US)?
Wow Krunic is playing tough!
Well that was something!
In at least one local high school league in my area, they use the “champions” (18-point) tiebreak instead of a third set in its year-end tournament to decide who represents the league in the state sectional tournament.
I am not a fan of deciding-set tiebreaks, but I think they should be used for doubles - at least, in a situation where it comes down to a tiebreak or suspending play until the next day. It’s sort of like top-level softball; if you get two good teams together, you’ll be there all day, just as if you have two decent pitchers, it’s going to be 0-0 for a long time if you don’t have the “start each half-inning beginning with the top of the 10th with a runner on second base” rule. I see that Wimbledon has been using a tiebreak in the final (third) set (a normal one at 6-6 up until a few years ago, then a champions tiebreak in place of the set) of the “legends” doubles event.
Federer hit a few small bumps, but more or less rolled over Bautista Agut in straight sets.
Errani better pull up her socks!
Some real surprises lately. I didn’t expect Nishikori to get Raonic or Monfils to beat Dimitrov. Makarova is into the women’s semis, and Serena had some foot problems yesterday when she and Venus lost in doubles. She plays Pennetta next. Wawrinka as an early lead on Nishikori and Djokovic will play Murray later.
Date-Krumm and Zahlavova Strycova that’s two people) just made the semis in women’s doubles.