Spanish star Rafael Nadal, the third seed, was knocked out of the Flushing Meadows tennis tournament, the last Grand Slam of the Grand Slam, by losing to American Francis Tiafoe 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 3-6 Monday, while Iga followed the Polish Sviontik, ranked first in the world, marched towards the final.
It is the first time that the 24-year-old American, ranked 22 in the world, has reached the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows, where he will meet Russian Andrey Rublev.
“I don’t know what to say, I don’t believe. I played amazing tennis, I don’t know what happened,” said Tiafoe, who previously reached the Australian 2019 quarter-finals after the match.
For his part, the 36-year-old Nadal praised his opponent’s performance, saying, “He played well and did a lot of things well. For my part, I had chances, and if I want to be in the quarter-finals, I have to play better than that.”
“You have to be ready to take your chances, and I couldn’t do that. He knew how to do it, and he played with the right determination.”
“I need to go home”
Regarding the end of the current season, he said, “I need to go home, the past few months have been difficult. I have more important things than tennis to settle. Then the decisions will be made according to how things go in my personal life, which takes precedence over my professional career.”
Nadal had to wait to consolidate his record of major titles and raise it to 23, knowing that he was crowned two major titles out of three this year in Australia and Roland Garros to return and withdraw before his match in the semi-finals of Wimbledon against Nick Kyrgios, due to a strong injury in the abdominal muscles I kept him out for more than a month.
Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, the defending champion and first seed, was knocked out in the fourth round, losing to Kyrgios.
Rublev easily
Russian Andrey Rublev reached the quarter-finals with an easy victory over Britain’s Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 26 minutes.
Rublev previously reached this role in the American championship twice, in 2017 and 2020, and he will meet Tiafoe in a revenge match for him, because the American eliminated him from the third round of Flushing Meadows last year in a marathon match of 5 groups.
The Russian has achieved several successes since the beginning of the current season by winning three tournaments in Marseille, Dubai and Belgrade, and reached the quarter-finals in the French Roland Garros championship last June.
“Cameron and I have known each other very well for a long time and I had to do my best to get over him,” Rublev said.
Italian Yannick Sener reached the quarter-finals of a grand slam for the third time this year, beating Belarusian Ilya Ivashka 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
In the next round, Sener will face Spain’s Carlos Alcaras Garvia, who defeated Croatia’s Marin Cilic, the 2013 champion, in a marathon match 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
“I believed in myself, and it was a tough match,” said Alcaras, 19, the third seed in the tournament, who needed 3 hours and 54 minutes to win the match.
The Spaniard, who is behind 1-2 in the confrontations between him and Sener, noting that the latter won his two victories this year in Wimbledon and Croatian Umag, “I almost lost the fifth group. It was difficult to return after losing the fourth group.”
Shivontik continues on its way
In the women’s category, Švientek suffered from a difficult start against the unknown German ranked 100th in the world Yule Niemeyer, losing the first set 2-6, before winning the second and third sets 6-4, 6-0 to become the first player from Poland to reach the quarter-finals of Flushing Meadows .
“I am completely satisfied. It is the first time that I have reached the quarter-finals in New York and I am very proud of that,” said Švientek, 21.
On the other hand, Niemeyer, who reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon two months ago, had not won any hard-court match in her career before entering the American championship.
She will meet in the quarter-finals with eighth seed Jessica Pegula, who beat Czech veteran Petra Kvitova, two-time Wimbledon champion in 2011 and 2014, 6-3 6-2 in just one hour and 9 minutes.
Pegula has also reached the quarter-finals in the Australian and Roland Garros championships this year as well.
Sabalenka meets Pliskova
In turn, the Belarusian, ranked sixth in the world, Arina Sabalenka, reached the quarter-finals for the second year in a row, where she faces the Czech Karolina Pliskova (22), runner-up in the 2016 edition.
Sabalenka, 24, who is seeking her first title this year, beat American Danielle Collins (19), who reached the final of the last edition of the Australian Grand Prix earlier this year, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Sabalenka confirmed her superiority over Collins with her fourth victory, knowing that she had beaten her opponent in the first round at Flushing Meadows in 2018 and last year in the third round.
Sabalenka set up a quarter-final match with Pliskova, who had previously struggled to beat fellow countrywoman Victoria Azarenka (26) 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2.
The 30-year-old Czech qualified for the quarter-finals of Flushing Meadows for the fifth time.
“Victoria is a very big and dangerous player,” Pliskova said of her opponent after the match. “The match was very close and the points were long. It wasn’t easy.”