That, then, is us. Thanks for your company and comments, we’ll be back again tomorrow. Peace out.
Dimitrov and Tiafoe, then. I guess I fancy Griggzy, because I think he’ll play well enough such that to beat him, Tiafoe has to be somewhere between excellent and superb. If Tiafoe plays close to his best, though, it’ll be a belter of a match and he’ll have a great chance.
I enjoyed that a lot (you’ll all be delighted to learn). I can’t wait to see if that’s the beginning of something for Fritz, while Zverev will probably be wondering how many times he’ll be in the last eight of a slam, out of which Carlos Alcaraz has been knocked.
Zverev might’ve been more aggressive today – he was too far back, and in the fourth and fifth sets, it was Fritz looking to force it. Daniil Medvedev wins matches like that, but Zverev has the tools to dominate.
Fritz tells Nick Kyrgios he’s had lots of looks at quarter-finals the last few years but today he felt different, like it was his time. Asked about how developed his game from being a big server, he says the forehand and backhand were always there but at the top levels the ball always comes back. He’s worked at drops and coming in though, and he’s now a proper player – that’s me not him.
Asked if he’d prefer Dimitrov or Tiafoe next, Tiafoe being a good mate of his, he says the crowd want Tiafoe to guarantee an American in the final so he’ll go with that.
And doesn’t Fritz enjoy it! He’s worked his whole life for this, and knows he’s not finished yet. Zverev didn’t play badly tonight, but he ran into something special.
Taylor Fritz (12) beats Alexander Zverev (4) 7-6(2) 3-6 6-4 7-6(3)
Another animal of a rally, but Zverev hooks a forehand wide and Fritz has made his first grand slam semi at his home grand slam! He has played the match of his life in the match of his life!
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A tight second serve puts Fritz behind in the rally and Zverev nabs back a mini-break … then nets a backhand, and at 6-3, Fritz has three match points!
Naturally, Zverev responds with an ace before stomping round changeover without a drink; does he think Fritz is tiring? A brute of a rally follows, backhand to backhand, then Fritz changes up, injects forehand pace, and two more give him a second mini-beak at 5-2! Two serves, two points from the semis!
Fritz holds, then Zverev gets to a drop … but doesn’t quite make it! The crowd think it’s in, so there’s a delayed reaction; naturally, Zverev follows it with an ace, but he’s still a mini-brea down and Fritz quickly holds twice for 4-1! He’s played a beautiful set … so far.
When thinking about how Zverev’s playing, can’t do so without acknowledging that Fritz – a fantastic athlete and server at his physical peak, improved in all aspects of the game and with plenty of big-match experience – might just be playing the match of his life here. And he plays a brilliant first point, coming in to smite a forehand down the line for 0-15. But then well in rallies, he twice nets backhands and when the inevitable incredible service arrives, all Fritz can do is spoon up a simple putaway. From there, he closes out, and here comes a fourth-set tiebreak! Don’t mind if we do!
Fritz is making it look easier than Zverev; he’s flowing, whereas the German is producing moments. As I type, of course, he plays a beautiful point, return and drive-volley, to win his first on Fritz’s first serve this set; as per the below things can change quickly. But instead Fritz strikes down to obscene aces, and at 5-6 in the fourth, Zverev will shortly serve again to stop in the match.
Reeling under the pressure, Zverev nails an ace down the T, then a service-winner, then plays a trick-shot when a ball comes back to him following a let. Then an ace! So, when Fritz goes well long, it’s a love hold and 5-5 in the fourth.
More hammering from the baseline, but increasingly it’s Fritz, seeking to make his first grand slam semi, in his home event, pushing the pace and looking the likelier. Thing is, tennis can turn on so little, when you get two elite players playing each other and playing well, it’s hard to know what’s going to happen even based on what you’ve only just seen. Fritz holds for 2-1 5-4 and, with the crowd cheering on their boy, Zverev will shortly serve to stay in the match…
Fritz makes 0-15 so Zverev whacks a succession of massive balls until he can’t take any more, then hits a colossal serve. Fritz, though, is sort of on one, coming in off a runaround forehand to unload on a winner to the corner. There follows a further colossal serve, 134ph, then a brute out wide followed by a clean=up backhand. This match is hitting a good level now, and we’re 4-4 in the fourth.
Disgustingly exhausting rally to open the game, how do they do it? Fritz is doing the better in these exchanges – Zverev’s backhand isn’t doing what it usually does – and he lasts longer for 15-0. He’s holding really well here and a booming forehand makes 40-0, then a huge serve gives him 2-1 4-3.
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Zverev is getting deeper and deeper on return, telly tells us; does he want longer to see the ball? It’s easy to recline upon one’s posterior and advise him to be more aggressive, but surely he’ll have to at some point? A deft volley – Zverev has got so much better at those – makes him 30-15, but he’s under a bit of pressure when he nets a backhand. I said Zverev has been volleying well, he has, and he has specifically today too … but he doesn’t put one away and Fritz caresses a sensational pass down the line to raise break point! This could the be match right here! Or not! Zverev carts a glorious forehand, inside-out to break the sideline, to restore deuce. An error, though, hands Fritz back advantage … and after a sapping rally, he tosses Zverev a lemon, going for one that wasn’t there when it’s his opponent under pressure to force it. And from there, the game is abruptly ended, an ace down the T sealing the hold for 3-3 in the fourth.
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It’s going to get even tenser out there as Fritz nears potential victory … and, as I type, he shanks a forehand for 30-all; naturally, he follows it with an ace. And another ace, of course he does. Fritz leads 7-6 3-6 6-4 3-2.
Fritz hits a fine winner, and when Zverev doubles, he hands over an avoidable deuce; naturally, he follows it with an ace, then a fine approach and drop; we’re 2-2 in the fourth, Fritz by two sets to one.
“I won’t go into pop culture since I was already well past it by the 90s,” writes Richard Hirst, “but better for sport……. no, no,no! Just taking the sport you’re watching now, how about Federer, Nadal, Djokovic (however much one loathes at least two of those) and Murray, maybe the greatest British sportsman of my lifetime. The Olympics are much superior now to then (even a boring old fart thinks there’s something to be said for the mountain biking and rock climbing). I could go on, but you need to watch the tennis, so I’ll leave it there (except for Fulham in the Premier League!).”
Women’s tennis was better in the 90s, I’d say, Test cricket too – though i may or may not have my opinion coloured by my football team being alright. As far as the Olympics goes, I doubt I’ll see anything to surpass the 1988 men’s 100m – perhaps, on reflection, the single biggest sporting occasion of my lifetime.
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Fritz has never been past the quarter-final at a slam, having made four quarter-finals, including here last year. Zverev has reached the last four at eight grand slams, and never won the title. Clearly, the mental barrier is in a different place for these two.
Back on court, Zverev holds comfortably, Fritz hits back by holding to love and leads 2-1 in the fourth. Time to hand back to Daniel …
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Had Zverev won that third set, I would have fancied him to rattle off the fourth. Can Taylor Fritz close it out in four? That seems a tougher ask. But he’s one set from the semi-finals, and has no trouble holding to 15 in this fourth set.
Deuce, 4-5 down and Zverev is chasing every ball, a nervy-looking Fritz finally putting one out of his reach for another break and set point. And Zverev aces! Fritz then lands a backhand cross-courter right on his opponent’s toes. Break point No 5 … taken as Zverev nets tamely. Taylor Fritz leads 7-6, 3-6, 6-4!
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Hmm, what’s this? Zverev makes two quick forehand mistakes in succession, and when Fritz grinds out the next point, he suddenly has three set points in hand. Zverev saves the first with a big first serve, then the second as Fritz goes long. Big, big point here … and Fritz nets a backhand, to the crowd’s chagrin.
Zverev wins a thrilling rally which progresses from baseline slugging to net artistry, the German chopping beyond Fritz’s racket and finding the corner. That got the crowd on their feet – but Fritz quickly shakes it off to see off the game, and edge 5-4 ahead.
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Fritz double-faults to start this game but gets his act together, charging on to a loose Zverev drop shot to take charge of the game. Zverev hits back on his service game, and we stay locked at 4-4.
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Zverev holds with ease, then sets about breaking back, changing up his angles – and getting the break with a shot down the line that catches Fritz on his heels. We’re back on serve in the third set, one-set all. Get comfy!
Fritz powers to another hold, much more comfortable than the last, and leads this third set 3-0. By the way, if he wins this match, then the only man who can stop an American finalist will be Grigor Dimitrov. The last home finalist in the US Open men’s final was Andy Roddick, who lost to (of course) Roger Federer in 2006.
Zverev was close to taking charge of this match, there, and the missed chance seems to have knocked his concentration. Some cheap unforced errors here allow Fritz a break point, which he takes. The American leads 2-0 in the third set, and the momentum shifts again!
So, one set all, and as Tim Henman points out, it’s now a best-of-three – and if they share the next two, a one-set shootout. Yeah, that’s how it works, Tim. Sorry. We like Tim really, he seems like a nice bloke. Anyway, Fritz has to dig in to hold, but does so, and leads 1-0 in the third set.
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Thanks Daniel. A quick mention for this, from Tumaini Carayol, on Jack Draper’s upcoming quarter-final with Alex De Minaur. That’s the second match on Ashe tomorrow, with Beatriz Haddad Maia v Karolina Muchova up first. The evening session – Iga Swiatek v Jessica Pegula, and Jannik Sinner v Daniil Medvedev – looks decent too.
At 30-0, Zverev lifts a forehand wide of the sideline, but Zverev quickly raises two set points … only to burn the first going long on the forehand. But when Fritz goes long with the forehand, the match is level at one set apiece, and Zverev will wonder if he’s drawn the sting – though I think i wrote that during their Wimbledon match, which the American won in five. Otherwise, I’m off for a break – here’s Niall Mcveigh to croon you through the next hour. Fritz 7-6 3-6 Zverev
Netting a forehand at 15-all, Zverev goes to remonstrate with his racket, then stops himself and rests it on the court instead before using it to play a nice approach and low volley which sets up an overhead for 30-all. And when he makes 30-40, Fritz can’t return a deep forehand, so at 5-3 we’ve got our break and Zverev will now serve for the second set! He’s playing more aggressively now, from closer to the baseline and coming in more often; it’s working well for him.
A brilliant backhand pass, on the run, gives Fritz a snifflet at 30-15, then a big forehand persuades Zverev to net – and by the standards of this match, this is a chance. And now he’s facing a second serve too … so Zverev astonishes a second first serve at 133mph and it doesn’t come back. In comms, though, Feli notes that he was pushed to the gamble by Fritz landing his returns, and when he tries it at 40-30, he doubles. For all the difference it makes: two gigantic serves seal the hold, and Zverev trails 6-7 4-3.
The nineties are back in fashion – look at these jeans! – and rightly so. I’m an 80s child, 90s teenager, so of course I’m biased, but they were a phenomenal decade of pop culture and sport, far better than anything since in those aspects, and the revival continues here as Fritz holds in another boom-boom-boom-boom game to level the second set at 3-3.
En casa 😁🇦🇷 @Argentina pic.twitter.com/Ci6GaLJfzA
— Lisandro Martinez (@LisandrMartinez) September 3, 2024
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Zverev holds to 15 and, as expected, neither player quite has the game to break the other. Fritz leads 7-6 2-3.
Also going on:
At 15-all, Zverev gets a look at a second serve but does little with it; good, because the shot he produces to end the rally is so absurd I don’t know what to tell you. Fritz plays a fine point but, having apparently finished it to the forehand corner, Zverev pegs after it and, from just above the ground, hooks over the top of the highest part of the net and curls on to the corner, then poses, arms out, for ages – like David Beckham against Greece. So Fritz hammers down an ace, then quickly closes out for 7-6 2-2; that’s brilliant behaviour because he didn’t dwell on what he just saw, nor on how much his opponent appreciated himself for it.
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At 30-0, Fritz tries a drop, but it won’t clamber over the net, then Zverev annihilates a serve down the T, and Fritz leads 7-6 1-2.
During the first set, Zverev seemed to have a problem with the tension in his strings, and he was particularly vexed during the breaker; a new one has just arrived and sits by his seat. And you can see how details like this might get into a player’s head too – I don’t know if this was why but I’m surprised he’s played so tepidly thus far. Anyroad, at 30-all Fritz swings an ace out wide, a return goes into the net, and that’s 1-1 in the second.
A decent volley from Zverev makes 30-all and another gives him 40-30 – he’s finding it a bit of a struggle at the moment, but he holds to trail 6-7 1-0. It’s Fritz, though, who’s seeking to make things happen.
“On the topic of no breaks to win a match,” says James W, “Sampras/Agassi at the US Open in 2001 featured no breaks from either, Sampras winning in four.”
“Seeing that Stich v Becker semi on Grandstand took me right back,” writes Simon McMahon. “Surely the most evocative sporting theme ever. Keith Mansfield and Alan Hawkshaw, the Borg and McEnroe of library music.”
I was in the discotheque recently and heard something that sounded like it. I was overjoyed, and were I a DJ, I’d 100% be making a jungle or amapiano version.
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A booming serve raises four set points and, well though Zverev then retrieves, Fritz only needs one, spanking an overhead to lead 7-6(2)! He’s been the better, more aggressive player so far, had the break points, and played by far the better breaker.
Now then! Fritz pushes Zverev back, then hits down the line to the corner, comes in, and clobbers a drive volley cross-court for 4-2! And when Zverev goes long next point, Fritz leads by a double mini-break at 5-2!
Tim reckons Fritz has been the better player so far and that’s just about fair, but the difference is more that he’s playing closer to his best. Ordinarily in a tiebreak, I’d back the bigger server, but there’s so little to choose between these two that I can’t do that here, so I guess I’ll go with Zverev’s experience. And he makes the mini-break immediately, which is retrieved immediately, before a monstrous backhand cross-court, when behind in the point, keeps us on serve at 2-1 to the German.
Fritz doesn’t do enough with a volley which sits up, but then Zverev doesn’t with a pass, allowing the winner for 0-15 … then a brilliant return makes 0-30! Here comes pressure! And it tells, another useful return encouraging Zverev to waft long; three set points. The first is confiscated via service-winner, the second via big serve and net clean-up, the third via service-winner. An ace follows, and the ability to deliver like this when in a hole is quite something, but at the end of a rare long rally, the majority of which have been won by the German, the 28th stroke – unleashed by him – hits the net and takes us back to deuce. And from there, Zverev closes out, meaning our first and probably not last breaker.
A tremendous game from Fritz – across the piece, 45% of his serves have gone unreturned and he nails the deliveries here – means that he’s sitting down within seconds, Zverev having to think about how he’s going to force a breaker, trailing 5-6.
Now then. Off balance, Zverev hooks a forehand long for 0-15, and by the standards of this match, this is a chance – all the more so when Zverev misses a second first serve. For all the difference it makes, a delivery of 114mph too hot for Fritz, who stepped in to attack something slower. Then, at 30-15, Zverev punishes backhands for as long as it takes, then a wild forehand hands him the game and 5-5 in the first.
Another quick hold, this time for Fritz, and at 5-4 Zverev’s under a bit of scoreboard pressure.
“I think this is one of those ‘charming’ cultural quirks best enjoyed at a distance,” says Kevin Simons of the surnames as first name thing, “and I reckon you would quickly tire of the bearded tech bros and their armies of little Jacksons, Dylans, and Conors if you lived here.”
I can’t bring myself to ever object to a Dylan.
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A love hold for Zverev, levelling the set at 4-4, and between games he goes to remonstrate with the umpire, over what I’m not sure. The court, says Laura Robson, isn’t playing as livelililily as earlier and it’s not as hot either, not that the rallies here are especially sapping.
You don’t see many players win matches without breaking – Stich beating Edberg 4-6 7-6 7-6 7-6 at Wimbledon in 1991 is the only one I can recall. And as I seek out the video, Fritz holds easily again for a 4-3 lead.
Zverev has landed 15/17 first serves, but at 40-15, a net-cord takes the ball away from him and he’s under a soupçon of pressure. And Fritz scents opportunity, stepping into a mahoosive forehand winner for deuce. And what a point comes next, Zverev at the net and Fritz coming in, leaping to divert a backhand overhead over, but not well enough. Zverev seals advantage then wins the next point too, also at the net – he’s 77% on those currently – and it’s hard to see how either man is broken, though presumably one will be at some point.
An ace gives Friz 30-0, then two monstrous forehands, one to each side and the second cleaning the line, give him 3-2. He’s playing the better or at least the closer to his best, which is also to say that if he doesn’t win this set, he’ll have a problem as big as his serve.
Up 15-0, Zverev sends down a double, then a lovely drop, beautifully disguised because who expects that from Fritz, makes 15-30. Then, though it’s soon 30-all, a rat-a-tat net-exchange, Zverev unable to finish on various occasions, means he’s facing the first break-point of the match … and Fritz nets a backhand when handily positioned to punish a weak approach. And from there, Zverev closes out, Feritz drawing him in with a flat forehand but unable to land the backhand pass down the line; 2-2 it is.
Imagine GBGing the men’s Wimbledon finals of the 90s; what would you have to describe apart from serves and the occasional volley? This might be a little like that, just without the volleys – though, as I type, Zverev claws back from 40-15 to deuce. There is, though, no real sense of an imminent break, and Fritz Taylor powers through deuce to lead 2-1 in the first.
An easier hold for Zverev, who sends down two aces and only one second serve. We knew it’d be like this; it’s like this and 1-1 in the first.
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Fritz holds to 30, a bit nervy but not so much he can’t get it done. I love how much Americans love surnames as first names, and love it even more when they’ve a first name for a surname. He leads 1-0.
First set, Taylor Fritz to serve … ready, play.
Zverev is, of course, the better player, but Fritz thinks he can do it, and belief added to his serve and forehand make him a very potent threat. He’ll be looking to hit down the line to Zverev’s forehand, while Zverev will, as Calv says, do his usual thing of serving big and creaming backhands. One thing I will say, though, is that his volleying has improved massively in recent times, whereas Fritz still has hands of stone.
How will this one go? Here’s Coach Calv! “Could be close but unlikely to be entertaining. They played at Wimbledon, Fritz won. Tactically nothing that interesting. As usual Zverev will roll his forehand slowly in court and hope he can hustle through on his serve and BH.”
Here come Fritz and Zverev. This should be good…
Badosa looked close to tears by the end of that but she’ll come again – this is just the start of her as a big noise. The crowd and occasion got to her, but it’s understandable that, after all she’s been through, the enormity of it all was too much when things were tense, or when they were expected of her – at the start, then when she had to serve out for a decider. The feelings she’s been feeling will stay with her for a while, but I hope that, when she’s calmed down, she’ll realise that just being here was a triumph – I know elite sportsfolk don’t work like that but still – and getting to the last eight shows how fantastic she is. I can’t wait to see her in Melbourne.
Next on Ashe: Tayor Fritz (12) v Alexander Zverev (4).
I can’t lie, I feel slightly robbed of a thrilling denouement. And I feel for Badosa, who played some terrific stuff to get here and just as she was in control, allowed the occasion to get big on her. But well played Emma Navarro: she might’ve tanked the end of set two to prepare for set three but is now so confident and so good, she backed herself to deal with things in two. I think we’ve a new fixture at the top of the women’s game; good.
Navarro says when she made 5-2 she felt like it might be doable in two sets and even if not, she wanted to set a marker for the third.
She thanks her coach for all his work over the years and also her dad, who knew she was a bit ADHD to sit in a classroom or a 9-5, so he sent her on her tennis-playing journey and here she is.
In the Wimbledon quarter, she talked herself into some feelings and got walloped, so turned up for this match “ready to rock”, explaining that she gets her intensity from her mum.
Otherwise, she’s looking forward to the semi, knowing whichever of the two it is, they serve big and she’ll be ready.
Emma Navarro (13) beats Paula Badosa (26) 6-2 7-5
I’m so happy for Navarro, who’s worked so hard to get this good, but gutted for Badosa, who’s given it everything just to get here. She barely contests the final point and disappears so quickly you wonder if she was even here at all; for Navarro, it’s Qinwen Zheng (7) or Aryna Sabalenka (2) next.
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Oh man, this is painful to watch now. Badosa is in one of those dreams where she can’t move her feet and a winner from Navarro makes 0-30. But a forehand winner halves the deficit, and a sudden backhand on to the line makes 30-all. In comms, they think the crowd are having an impact, and bat change of ends, Marion thought so too – for all the diference it makes. Badosa nets, and she’s match-point down!
In no time at all, Navarro serves out a love game for 6-2 6-5, and I’m sure she’ll be telling herself that if she can just get the ball into play, she’s in business. Badosa needs to rediscover her equilibrium, because the way she’s handled the last few games has been so careless – and yet we know she couldn’t care more.
Navarro plays a nice opening point, varying her pace with slice, and Badosa nets another forehand, then butchers a double; 0-30. Goodness me! Gosh, another double – the third time in the match she’s sent down two in a row – make is 12 of the last 14 points to Navarro, and when she serves again before the crowd have quietened, the sense is that she lost the run of herself. As it goes, she ends the rally via forehand, but another error means we’re back on serve, Navarro having won four games straight to lead 6-2 5-5. I’ve no idea how Badosa comes back from this, the suddenness of her disintegration quite startling.
Suddenly Badosa can’t get a ball in court; the fickleness of form is absolutely nuts. In no time at all, Navarro holds to love, leaving the Spaniard with 90 seconds to compose herself before trying to serve out set two a second time at 2-6 4-5.
Sent wide, Badosa can’t land her forehand in court, but a service-winner restores parity; 15-all. She does, though, stray long to cede 15-30, then wide for 15-40, and after playing a very fine set, she’s struggling to close it out. And have a look! A second serve sits up, Navarro administers the treatment via forehand winner, and now leads 6-2 3-5.
Navarro holds to 15, forcing Badosa to serve for it – but with two opportunities to level the match.
Badosa holds easily and Navarro must now serve at 6-2 1-5 to stay in the second set; however hard both players try, they’ll already be thinking about the decider.
Navarro is really canny in how she works her towards the net, hitting deep and inching towards the net like a Grandma’s Footsteps world champ. And that appears to be the advice she gets from her coach between games – she’s told to play through the court – but she’s second-best now, Badosa planted on the baseline and sending her to hither and yon but a few yards behind, forcing an error at 30-all that raises a point for the double-break. Navarro saves it but then misses a forehand so must face another … and what a shot Badosa delivers, a flat, nails backhand towards the corner and on to the line; it’s not a clean winner but it doesn’t come back, and she now leads 4-1 in set two! I hate to say it because I really enjoy Navarro, but in the first set, mentality told; now, class is telling. Badosa 2-6 4-1 Navarro
A Badosa error hands Navarro 15-all, but an ace down the T redeems it. Another follows out wide, then a gorgeous backhand, inside-out on to the sideline, gives her a 3-1 second-set lead.
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A Navarro double gives Badosa 15-all but she can’t hit consistently enough to seriously intimate a second break, before Navarro clouts a fine forehand winner to secure her hold. She’s on the board in set two at 6-2 1-2.
We find ourselves at 30-all as Badosa seeks to consolidate, a swinging body-serve crowding Navarro who can’t respond, then the Spaniard’s forehand does the rest. This is better from Badosa, who’ll have known she had to improve while her opponent would most likely drop. Badosa 2-6 2-0 Navarro
Being broken for the set also means that Navarro serves first in the second and she’s been very solid so far. But has she lost focus? Very quickly it’s 0-30, but a sudden change of pace on the backhand surprises Badosa … then she goes long. Five unforceds in the first set, now three in this game! And though Badosa then goes waaaay long – she’s still not herself – Navarro swipes a backhand wide and all that hard work to win the first set might’ve been tossed in the first game of the second! She leads 6-2 0-1.
Navarro is handling the pressure much the better, racing to 0-40 and three set points. Two disappear when she drops long, but in control of the next point and at half-court, she panels a forehand down the middle when she might’ve hit a winner then, when the ball comes back, decides this is the time to try her first drop of the match despite the myriad options available, and sends it wide. Navarro leads 6-2 and is playing well, but the way Badosa ceded the set was tamer than Gentle Ben.
Marion, who’s courtside, says Badosa looks to be breathing heavily and that’s likely to be a reflection of her nerves; as Navarro makes 30-0, we learn that of the 10 rallies lasting nine shots or more, she’s won nine of them. We are, though, soon at 30-all, Navarro’s third unforced error levelling the game, then Badosa takes charge of the next exchange, zetzing forehands from the back to open the court for a winner. She might just’ve settled, but a fine forehand winner from Navarro takes us to deuce; no matter, an errant backhand means Badosa has advantage, her improvement upping the pressure, but she nets and back round we go. From there, though, Navarto closes out, painting a lovely forehand drop to secure her hold and 5-2. The first set is almost hers.
An ace down the T makes 30-15 but after a net-cord leaps up and over, Navarro goes away from the ball so all Badosa needs to do is prod it around the post … but instead she clouts into the net and makes things difficult for herself. Not that difficult. A quick point followed by another ace and it’s 2-4.
Badosa is improving, making 30-40 and doing really well to stick in the next point with a superb retrieval. But from there and once again, Navarro sends her to places she doesn’t want to be until there’s either an error or a chance to hit a winner; this time, it’s the former, and Navarro leads 4-1.
Badosa makes 30-0, but playing the second of those points, Navarro read her intentions, she just netted her backhand down the line. An ace follows, though … then another double … then another service-winner. She’s not happy with how she’s playing but she is on the board at 1-3.
My computer crashes, returning to life in time for me to see miserable Badosa at 40-30, having missed a chance to force a break point of her own. Instead, Navarro then rushes through a swift point to seal the game and a 3-0 lead. Badosa needs to get going quickly, or this set will be over.
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Tremendous backhand winner for Badosa makes 15-0 but then Navarro seizes upon a slightly short ball, landing a backhand on to the baseline before coming in to clobber a forehand winner. But she then nets a forehand and disburses a double – P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E! – meaning she faces two break points – and another double cedes the early break! Navarro leads 2-0!
Terrific start from Navarro, who plays a really solid point for 15-0, directing Badosa about the court, then closes out to love. She’s in the match and if she can get her first return in, she’ll give her opponent something to think about about which to think.
And play, Navarro to serve.
Good news: Marion is in co-comms, and her meld of enthusiasm and analysis is extremely enjoyable.
In the studio, they’re split: Henman and Bartoli are going Navarro, Lopez Badosa. It’s a tight one, in other words.
…and here they come!
Our players are poised…
Back to today, though, who’ll win our first match? Badosa is the better player with the bigger game, such that if she plays well, it’s hard to see how Navarro beats her. But hers is a high-risk, high-reward style and if she’s nervous or imprecise, she’s playing someone more than able to punish her.
Updated
So who’s going to win these pots, then? On the women’s side, it’s hard to look beyond Aryna Sabalenka; of course Iga Swiatek can take her on a really good day, but she doesn’t love this surface so isn’t as confident as usual. Badosa could, on her best day; I think Navarro couldn’t.
The men’s feels more open, especially as the two only players left who’ve won a major, Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev, are playing each other. But really, almost any of them could do it from here – personally I’d love to see Grigor Dimitrov do it – it just depends who finds what they need at the time they need it.
Preamble
Yo dudes, and welcome to the US Open 2024 – day nine!
For the last eight days, we were just chatting; today, we’re talking, and we begin with an absolute jazzer of a debate.
Paula Badosa has had so much aggro with her back and mental health that she thought seriously about giving up the game. Which sounds unfortunate when you type it, but when you really think about it – a potentially brilliant athlete, in her prime, having sacrificed her youth for her art, feeling unable to go on – you feel a small piece of the anguish that must’ve enveloped her. But she found a way and, over the course of 2024, the former world no 2 has gradually rediscovered the joyous power and aggression that makes her special. She’s earned this, and she’s a danger.
But so has and is Emma Navarro. At 23, she’s worked out her game and what it takes to be a top pro, a far fitter and tougher proposition than before. To get to this point, she’s beaten both Marta Kostyuk and Coco Gauff in three tough sets, and though she got tight the first time she looked set to eliminate the champ, she learnt from it and when the chance presented itself again, she devoured it with extreme prejudice. After beating Gauff to make the Wimbledon quarters, she was subsequently battered by Jasmine Paolini; she’ll be desperate to show her home crowd she’s learnt from that too.
Following them on Ashe is a weapons-grade battle of the highest degree. No one without a grand slam title has come closer to winning won than Alexander Zverev, taking Carlos Alcaraz the distance in the French Open final, having lost a two-set lead to Dominic Thiem in this competition’s 2020 final. Now, with Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic gone, he’ll once again be feeling this is his time – more acutely than ever – and given a serve and backhand that are two of the finest shots in the game, that’s with good reason.
However there’s always a however – in this case, Taylor Fritz, on the surge and conqueror of the German at Wimbledon. His serve and forehand have always been nasty and still are, but what’s changed in recent times is the belief that he can beat the best on the biggest occasions. He’s got the game to give Zverev plenty.
If that was all, it’d be enough, but there’s also a history of needle. Though the two players get on well, at Wimbledon, Zverev took issue with some of the support Fritz was getting from his box, while Instagram posts made by Fritz’s girlfriend, Morgan Riddle – later deleted – seemed to reference allegations of domestic abuse made against Zverev by two former partners – which Riddle later said was not the case.
We’ll see if any animus surfaces but either way, we’re set for what should be a brilliant day of (US Open) tennis. Awesome! Let’s go!
Play: 12pm local, 5pm BST
