Apologies for missing yesterday but will combine day 5 and 6 into 1 post for you all and make it a round 3 wrap up. The last round for substitutes to be used so from this point onwards no more substitutes can be used.

I will start with the ladies draw for the wrap up and the first upset of round 3 was the 20th seed, Azarenka, who suffered a shock defeat to the unseeded, Wang (unfortunately not the Wang that anyone picked).
The second upset was also on day 5 and it was the 14th seed, American Madison Keys who lost to Mertens in 3 tight sets. Both ladies putting on a show for the spectators in the night session.
The last upset, yes can you believe that only 3 upsets happened in the ladies draw in 2 days of tennis, was the 15th seed, Kalinskaya losing to 22nd seed, Haddad Maia in straight sets. The Brazilian looking very impressive so far at this years US Open and could be a dark horse for the rest of the tournament. No one picked her so all her points are being received by no one.

Swiatek, Samsonova, Pegula, Shnaider (the best lady pick as it stands), Paolini, Sabalenka, Vekic, Navarro, Gauff, Badosa and Zheng all made it safely through to the 4th round.

Onto the mens and the first upset of round 3 was the all American rerun from 2023. This time it was 20th seed, Tiafoe who got the better of 13th seed, Shelton reversing the result from last year. Big Foe taking the match in 5 sets – 4-6; 7-5; 6-7(5); 6-4; 6-3
Nakashima is the best male pick again after another really impressive win over 18th seed, Musetti. The unseeded American having a great US Open 2024 and now will face a tough opponent in Zverev for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Popyrin the 28th seed, then went and knocked out 2nd seed and Gold Medalist in Paris, Djokovic in 4 sets. This result meant that in 24 hours, all the medalists at the Paris Olympics were knocked out at the US Open.
30th seed, Arnaldi was next to fall as he lost in straight sets to Thompson who continues to look impressive. Another player to not be picked by scoring a lot of points if he had been picked.
Borges saved 3 consecutive match points in the 4th set before taking the set and then the match after taking the 5th set 6-0 against 18 year old Mensik who was having a phenomenal tournament.

Rublev, Dimitrov, Fritz, Sinner, Paul, Draper, Zverev, Ruud, De Minaur and Medvedev all made it through their 3rd round encounters and are into the 4th round.

Onto the fantasy leaderboard and ‘Concrete Jungle where dreams are made of’ remain in the lead and have extended their 1 point lead to an 8 point lead. ‘Team Kickbutt’ have now moved up into 2nd and are the nearest challenger to our leader. 2 points back in 3rd we have a tie between ‘Lord of the Strings’ and ‘Stars and Stripes’ who can’t seem to be separated in this US Open. ‘Mustang Sally’ moved into 5th spot with ‘Simply Smashing’ down to 6th. The last prize position is currently occupied by ‘Dropshots’ in 7th.

Our wooden spoon remains with ‘Victorious Secret’ however they have closed the gap to just 6 points to ‘Two Left Feet’ who have moved down to 77th

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 tennis fantasy league organiser.http://Eishonline.co.za/jftl