US Open Quarterfinal First Day
Well, the round of 16 did not go as I predicted whatsoever. But hey, at least we are for sure having a brand new grand slam winner this week! Sorry guys, I’ve been a bit busy recently, so I apologize for the shortness of this, and the not 100% quality. I’ll be not busy soon, so my semifinals and finals writeup should be high quality again.
Kyrgios vs. Khachanov
Nicholas Kyrgios, you never fail to surprise me. I did not expect you to win in 4. I figured it’d at least be 5 if you were to win, but I guess being wrong happens. I watched the last three of this one, and I’m told that the first set was the best, so that’s disappointing, but the third set was some of the better tennis I’ve seen in a while. I am happy for Nick winning here, but I fear that him winning the whole tournament would inflate his ego, and he would start being more immature again. His level of play against Medvedev was what we liked to see from him. His baseline rallying was very good, even Medvedev compared it to that of Novak and Rafa in his press conference. Of course Nick’s serve was on fire, and his net play was nothing short of impeccable, he was overall very well composed throughout the match besides the problems he had with the serve timer and the chair umpire. I didn’t see much yelling at anyone at all. I’m excited to see more of this Kyrgios that is respectful, but still plays well and has some fun here and there. It was probably all over the highlights reel, but the around the net shot fiasco was quite comical. I feel Medvedev had something off, because he went from not losing a set to losing pretty hard. I hope that he’s alright to play some of the upcoming 500 tournaments, I’d be excited to write about him there. This was overall one of the better matches I’ve seen of late.
OHH MY GOODNESS! KAREN! HOW COULD YOU! NOOOO! THIS IS HORRIBLE. Ugh, this was the worst possible outcome. It flabbergasted me, and I could hardly bring myself to watch the Kyrgios match after this horrible news. I watched the first two sets before my phone died, and I did not get home to watch it elsewhere or charge it until the match was pretty much over. But from what I did see, it was Khachanov’s serve that pulled him through, and Pablo just couldn’t adapt. It was a sad sight to see. Pablo seemed to be just a bit off the entire first two sets, but he got settled before Khachanov, getting him set one. I didn’t see how Pablo came back to win set 4, but it was in vain, because Karen finished him off in the 5th. I don’t think Khachanov’s serve will be able to win him this match, though, because Kyrgios will definitely have an answer for it. Kyrgios just seemed to play better in every aspect of tennis, and I don’t think Khachanov can win this. I think Kyrgios has a good chance to win this tournament. So Kyrgios in 3
Berrettini vs. Ruud
Everyone expected Berrettini to win his match, but what I didn’t expect was for ADF to drag it out to 5 sets. Both played very well, and I like Berrettini’s mental game right now, it looks very calm and collected, and his physical play is good, it just has a very weak backhand that can easily be exploited. Berrettini has looked great this week, not having too much trouble with any of his matches, until this last one. I think this next one could be the worst one yet for him. Ruud is playing very well, and I think it’ll definitely be a tough one for Berrettini to get through, considering he hasn’t had much difficulty until now, and I don’t know if he can combat Ruud with his problematic backhand.
RUUDBUCKS BABY! They are fresh for sale, and Casper is not one to let us down! Casper looked great in this tournament, and his match with Moutet was a bit of a break for him, Moutet yelling, getting worked up over small things, and practically beating himself. Ruud looked sharp as ever in his match with Tommy Paul, and from the highlights I saw from the Moutet match, he didn’t let his guard up, even though he was playing a lucky loser, who has had some close calls in the recent matches he played. Ruud’s intelligence and mental game are really shining this tournament, and I think that he will use them to his advantage in this next match with Berrettini, he will definitely be smart enough to target and isolate the weak backhand and force him to make errors with it, his mental game, though, is what will really set him apart here. Ruud is always very calm, composed, and he never gets angry or lets the problems in the match get to his head and affect his playing. He always has an answer to problems, and his physical game is good enough to produce a lot of winners and keep him dominating rallies. I think Ruud has a very nice shot to win this one, and then make a dent in Nick Kyrgios in the semifinals. I think Ruud in 4 or 5.