Totally off his tennis for a set and a half, Rafael Nadal once again surpassed himself to get out of the trap set by the whimsical Italian Fabio Fognini and thus reach the 3rd round of the American Major. As expected, the fight was bitter and not painless, both literally and figuratively. Unbalanced after a setback at the end of the race in the middle of the fourth set, the Spaniard could not control his racket, which bounced on the ground and then hit the bridge of his nose with the edge. We had to wait for the slow motion to understand what the native of Mallorca was suffering from, hands on his temples, forced to lie on the ground for several minutes. “I was a little stunned and it hurt a little, he says in a post-match interview, bandage on his nose. It had happened to me before with a golf club, but never with a tennis racket! Despite the severe pain and the drops of blood, the four-time winner at Flushing Meadows no longer deviated from his forward march by finishing a job he had started badly 2h38 earlier (2-6, 6-4 , 6-2, 6-1). Off topic as rarely, he committed a whopping 27 unforced errors against only 6 winning shots in the first two sets. So much so that the Italian (60th in the world) led 6-2, 3-2 service to follow.
But the air pockets never last a whole match with “Rafa”, who knew how to revolt, pushed by the aggressiveness and the public of a Billie Jean King stadium won over to his cause, failing to fully find his game, against Fognini who would have seen himself playing a bad trick on him again in the New York tournament, like seven years before in the 3rd round, by erasing two sets behind. “It’s one of the worst starts of my career, concedes the winner. I’m still here and that means a lot to me. “Despite an increasingly failing physique (he had been forced to retire in the semi-finals of Wimbledon last July) and his 36 years, the man with 22 Grand Slam titles therefore continues his journey, even if this it is for the moment a little uneven, after having already dropped a first set in the 1st round. He will face in the next round an old acquaintance he had met at the age of 12 during a youth tournament: Richard Gasquet (91st in the world). Faller, also in four sets, of the Serbian Kecmanovic (6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4) a little earlier in the night, the Biterrois regained color by beating for the first time since Wimbledon 2016 a highly ranked player. However, the mission seems impossible for the tricolor who has never managed to emerge victorious from a confrontation with the Spaniard in 17 games on the main circuit. Earlier, his talented compatriot Carlos Alcaraz, seeded number 4, passed in force in the third round, dominating the Argentinian Federico Coria (78th) 6-2, 6-1, 7-5. After revealing himself in New York, where he reached the quarter-finals, the 19-year-old phenomenon is now one of the main contenders for the title. He will have to confirm this status against the American Jenson Brooksby (43rd). The Briton Cameron Norrie (9th), the Russian Andrey Rublev (11th) or the Italian Jannik Sinner (13th) also held their rank, unlike the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (10th), eliminated.
Full box for the French
In the wake of the French number 1 Caroline Garcia, the two other tricolors still in contention in this US Open validated their ticket for the 16th finals. In one of the best forms of her career, Alizé Cornet scared herself in the second run before setting the record straight. Clearly dominated in the second round, the 32-year-old Frenchwoman took over to eliminate the Czech Katerina Siniakova (83rd) 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. The one who points to 40th place in the WTA rankings will face for a place in the round of 16 the American Danielle Collins (19th), the very one who at the start of the season put an end to the most beautiful course of the Frenchwoman in Grand Slam, in quarter-finals at the Australian Open.
Having never passed this stage of the competition in New York, Cornet can count on a level of confidence at its maximum after her brilliant victory in the first round at the expense of the defending champion, the Briton Emma Raducanu. Especially since the Niçoise can boast of having set a new record in New York of 63 consecutive appearances in Grand Slam tournaments, improving the record she held since Wimbledon with the Japanese Ai Sugiyama.
Clara Burel, 131st in the world and qualified, confirmed her first round achievement against the winner of the last Wimbledon on Thursday by qualifying for the third round of the US Open at the expense of Belgian Alison van Uytvanck (43rd) 6-4 , 4-6, 6-4.
The Frenchwoman, who is taking part in her second New York Major at the age of 21 (elimination in the first round in 2021), will face the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, 6th in the world and semi-finalist in 2021, to try to invite herself for the first time to his young career in the second week of a Grand Slam tournament.
Source: AFP
Totally off his tennis for a set and a half, Rafael Nadal once again surpassed himself to get out of the trap set by the whimsical Italian Fabio Fognini and thus reach the 3rd round of the American Major. As expected, the fight was bitter and not painless, both literally and figuratively. Unbalanced after a setback at the end of the race in the middle of the fourth…