The beginning of the 2nd week of action. I will be going through the matches as they were played out on day 7. The day kicked off with 13th seed, Berrettini up against unseeded Spaniard Davidovich Fokina. It was the unseeded Spaniard who started off the better of the 2 players and with the good start he took the opening set against the 13th seed. The 2nd set was tightly contested and it went all the way to the tiebreak. Berrettini coming up with the goods as he took the tiebreak comfortably 7-2. He then carried his momentum in the 3rd set, breaking the Spaniard early which proved enough as he took the 3rd set 6-3. To the surprise of many though, Berrettini didn’t take control of the 4th and it was Davidovich Fokina who got the important break and who forced the match into a decider. Thankfully for the Berrettini supporters, the 13th seed played a clean final set and the big hitting Italian booked his spot in the US Open quarter-finals. This is his 5th consecutive grand slam quarter-final he has reached. Pretty good consistency from the Italian. The first match on Arthur Ashe was between 5th seed Ruud and the unpredictable Frenchman, Moutet. Ruud asserted his dominance early as he lost just 3 games in the opening 2 sets. Ruud was then a break up in the 3rd before Moutet started playing a lot better and somehow forced a tiebreak. The Frenchman managing to take the tiebreak 7-4 and we were heading into a 4th to the surprise of many. Ruud, the professional he is, was not fazed by the sudden form shown by Moutet and took the 4th set 6-2 to book his spot in the quarter-finals where he will face Berrettini. The 5th seed still stands a chance of ending the year end number 1 if a few things fall his way.

17th seed Garcia was up against 29th seeded American, Riske. The form was Garcia made her the favourite in the encounter and she used that to her advantage as she cruised past Riske to book her spot in the quarter-finals. Garcia looking like a strong contender at this stage. 12th seeded American, Gauff was against Zhang who has played some great tennis so far. Gauff though proved to strong as she beat Zhang 7-5; 7-5 to book her spot in the quarter-finals where she will play the in form Garcia in what should be a great match.

12th seed Carreno Busta was up against 27th seed Khachanov in the 4th round. Both players knew this match was an opportunity to play a quarter-final here at the US Open and what a match they put on. The match began with Carreno Busta taking the opening set. Khachanov though found his range after the opening set and went on to take the next 2 sets dropping just 4 games. Carreno Busta wasn’t finished though and forced a 5th and final set. Khachanov finding a little bit extra in the final set to book his spot in the quarter-finals. The late night thriller was between Kyrgios the 23rd seed and the number 1 in the world Medvedev. The first set was extremely tight as both players tried to find their feet in the match. Kyrgios managing to break to lead 4-2 before Medvedev broke back to level it at 4-4. The set eventually had to be decided in a tiebreak and what a tiebreak it was. Both players had multiple chances of taking the set but in the end it was Kyrgios who took the set 13-11 in the tiebreak. Kyrgios then went off to change his clothes and when we resumed it was Medvedev who looked the far better player and went up 5-1 in the 2nd set. Medvedev eventually taking it 6-3. Kyrgios though started returning a lot better in the next 2 sets and this ultimately proved the difference. Medvedev was unable to hold comfortably and Kyrgios took his chances which meant that Kyrgios took the next 2 sets and knocked out the defending champion and the number 1 in the world to book his spot in the quarter-finals where he will face Khachanov. Could Kyrgios go all the way? This win also means that either Nadal, Alcaraz or Ruud will become the new world number 1 after the US Open.

The last 2 matches were the 2 ladies matches. The first was between unseeded Tomljanovic and unseeded Samsonova. Samsonova started the better of the 2 as she took a 4-1 lead and then a 5-2 lead in the opening set. Tomljanovic managed to hold a tight service game to force Samsonova to serve it out. She wasn’t able to hold her nerve and Tomljanovic broke to 15 and the match was back on serve at 5-4. An extremely long 10th game pursued where Tomljanovic had to stave off break/set points. Somehow Tomljanovic managed to hold and it was level again at 5-5. 2 quick holds of serve and we headed into a tiebreak. Samsonova had another set point at 6-5 in the tiebreak but a forehand unforced error meant it was 6-6. Tomljanovic then had a set point of her own which was saved by Samsonova. Samsonova then saved a 2nd match point before Tomljanovic took her 3rd set point and miraculously took the opening set 10-8 in the breaker. This proved to tough for Samsonova as she faded in the second in the set and it was Tomljanovic who booked her spot in the quarter-finals. The last match of the day was between 5th seed Jabeur and 18th seed Kudermetova. The opening set just like many matches on day 7 had to be decided in a breaker. Jabeur playing a very clean, error free tiebreak to take the first set. Jabeur then managed to get the important break in the 2nd set to book her spot in the quarter-finals where she will face Tomljanovic.

The picks lost on day 7 were: Medvedev (41 picks), Carreno Busta (3 picks), Davidovich Fokina (3 picks), Riske (3 picks) and Zhang (1 pick).

Onto the fantasy leader board and it is still ‘Drop Shots’ who lead the way. Their lead over ‘Simply Smashing’ has been reduced by 1 point. ‘My Dream Team’ reappears in the top 5 and sits in 3rd with ‘Eish’ dropping a place to 4th. ‘Give Me A Break’ was one of the biggest movers as they moved up 12 spots into 5th place. The wooden spoon remains with ‘Magic Team’ who are 7 points behind ‘Love All’.

Match Results from day 7

• Berrettini(13) beat Davidovich Fokina – 3-6; 7-6(2); 6-3; 4-6; 6-2
• Ruud(5) beat Moutet – 6-1; 6-2; 6-7(4); 6-2
• Khachanov(27) beat Carreno Busta(12) – 4-6; 6-3; 6-1; 4-6; 6-3
• Kyrgios(23) beat Medvedev(1) – 7-6(11); 3-6; 6-3; 6-2
• Garcia(17) beat Riske(29) – 6-4; 6-1
• Gauff(12) beat Zhang – 7-5; 7-5
• Tomljanovic beat Samsonova – 7-6(8); 6-1
• Jabeur(5) beat Kudermetova(18) – 7-6(1); 6-4

Matches to watch on day 8:

• Norrie(7) vs Rublev(9) (17:00)
• Kvitova(21) vs Pegula(8) (18:00)
• Swiatek(1) vs Niemeier (19:00)
• Nadal(2) vs Tiafoe(22) (19:15)
• Azarenka(26) vs Pliskova(22) (20:15)
• Ivashka vs Sinner(11) (21:30)
• Collins(19) vs Sabalenka(6) (01:00)
• Cilic(15) vs Alcaraz(3) (02:15)

Jared

Jared matriculated in 2020 from Wynberg Boys High School in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. His passion for tennis afforded him the opportunity of travelling to Europe. He is a quizmaster and a fantasy organiser.