Despite the loss to Petra Kvitova in the round of 16, Muguruza could mathematically become No. 1 if Pliskova and Svitolina don’t reach the final stages. In the bottom half of the men’s draw, we will have a Querrey-Anderson clash between giants and a Carreno Busta-Schwartzmann battle of “peloteros”.
NEW YORK, FLUSHING MEADOWS – After one week of competition at this year’s US Open, the women’s draw has now reached a complicated stage. It is certain that this year we will have four different winners in the four Grand Slam tournaments, with Serena Williams winning in Australia, Ostapenko in Paris and Muguruza at Wimbledon. The last time it happened was three years ago.
After Muguruza’s loss to Petra Kvitova on Sunday night, the race to No. 1 has turned into an intricate situation: if we consider the live ranking as of September 3rd, Muguruza is virtually No. 1, but in case Pliskova and Svitolina clashed in the semifinals, the winner of that match will become No. 1. Svitolina will have to beat Madison Keys in the round of 16 and the winner of Kasatkina-Kanepi to keep her No. 1 dreams alive. She is 0-1 in the head-to-head with Keys, while Kasatkina is 1-0 against Kanepi: Both matches were played in 2015.
Pliskova will have to at least reach the final to protect her No. 1 ranking. After steamrolling over Jennifer Brady in the round of 16 on Monday morning, she will now face the winner of Vandeweghe-Safarova with CoCo leading the head-to-head with Lucie 3-1. If Svitolina loses before the semifinals and Pliskova before the final, Muguruza will be the new world No. 1.
The Spaniard will certainly regret the opportunities that she had in the first set against Petra Kvitova. Garbine failed to capitalize on a 4-1 lead in the first set and she was also up 2-0 in the tie-breaker. After losing the first set to an inspired opponent, Muguruza quickly went up a break in the second, but once again she let Kvitova back in the set. The Czech flew to a 5-2 lead and closed out the match 7-6,6-3. Kvitova had 24 winners and 42 unforced errors, while Muguruza 7 winners and 25 unforced errors. Only 7 winners for a player like Muguruza is a disappointing stat, but it is fair to say that the match was on Kvitova’s racquet with the Czech dictating most of the points.
Kvitova will now face the No.9-ranked Venus Williams: the Czech leads the head-to-head with the American legend 4-1. Venus – who prevailed 6-3,3-6,6-1 over Suarez Navarro in the round of 16 – has already played two Grand Slam finals this year against her sister Serena in Australia and Muguruza at Wimbledon. At 37 years of age, Venus is a true phenom and is probably more consistent than Petra, even if the Czech leads their head-to-head and has also shown an incredible form in the tournament so far.
In the bottom half of the women’s draw, another African-American player has a very good shot at the semis. On Tuesday, Sloane Stephens will play Anastasia Sevastova of Latvia, who knocked out a slightly injured Maria Sharapova in the round of 16. Sharapova’s loss to Sevastova was quite an upset, even if the Latvian reached the quarterfinals at last year’s US Open and is the kind of player that rarely loses to lower-ranked opponents. Latvia now has two world-class players such as Ostapenko and Sevastova. It is quite an achievement for such a small country.
Sharapova won this tournament in 2006, but this year she certainly wasn’t in her best shape. She had more than 100 unforced errors in her first two matches and a blister on her hand jeopardized her chances against Sevastova. At the end of the day, this was Maria’s first Grand Slam tournament in almost two years and it was difficult for her to be competitive at the highest level right away, while also dealing with the extra-pressure of her much-anticipated comeback. I think that in 2018 she will be back at the top of the women’s game along with Serena Williams, who has already announced her comeback for the Australian Open.
As for the men’s tournament, John McEnroe has emphatically made the wrong prediction: Shapovalov, who was McEnroe’s third favorite after Federer and Nadal, lost three tie-breakers to Carreno Busta, after squandering a 5-2 lead in the first set. Despite the loss, the young Canadian made a great impression on and off the court at this year’s US Open. In his post-match press conference, he showed great maturity for an 18-year-old and always gave very reasonable and smart answers. It is not surprising that he quickly climbed up the rankings from No. 169 to 69 defeating champions such as Del Potro and Nadal in Montreal earlier this summer.
No. 19-ranked Carreno Busta has only faced qualifiers in the tournament so far: King, Norrie, Mahut and Shapovalov. It doesn’t get any luckier than that, even if Shapovalov is an unusual qualifier. The Canadian should have been granted a wild-card after his performance in Montreal: “This tournament is in the United States, it is normal that the wild-cards are usually granted to American players. If the event was hosted by Canada, I would have probably received one,” said Shapovalov, showing great clarity once again.
Carreno Busta will be the favorite in the quarterfinal match against Diego Schwartzman, who at 5’7” is the shortest US Open quarterfinalist since 1994, when Jaime Yzaga of Peru upset Pioline and Sampras along the way. Schwartzman had a serious knee problem and was visibly limping at the end of his round of 16 match against Pouille, who last year defeated Nadal 7-6 in the fifth but this year couldn’t take advantage of the situation.
Andy Murray’s last-minute withdrawal turned the tournament upside down. Dick Savitt, winner of both the Australian and US Championships in 1951, said: “Withdrawing at the beginning of the tournament and ruining an entire draw is not something that should be allowed.”
This favoured the chances of four players that certainly don’t have much appeal for the worldwide audience: Querrey vs. Anderson will be a boring serving battle between two giants and Carreno Busta vs. Schwartzman will only produce endless baseline rallies with very little excitement.
The American media is hoping that Sam Querrey, who has recently reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, will emerge as the finalist from the bottom section of the draw. The California native has very good chances at making the final weekend after dismissing the older Zverev brother with ease.
According to a few players, the courts are slower than usual this year, while others are saying that the balls are actually slower or the weather, humidity and sometimes late hours can make the conditions faster or slower.
I spoke with one of the USTA managers and asked about the mix of sand, paint and cement. He confirmed that the courts are always prepared following the same procedure, but their exposure to the sun, wind and other elements can change their features. “We haven’t changed anything since 2003, even if our players – Isner, Querrey, Jonhson and Sock – would prefer faster courts. The reason why we chose 2003 as a reference is that we had a final between Andy Roddick and Juan Carlos Ferrero, two players with opposite playing styles. We thought that this type of surface could provide all players with equal opportunities.”
(Article translation provided by T&L Global – Translation & Language Solutions – (www.t-lglobal.com )
