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Key events
Noskova 4-3 Kostyuk A double-fault at 30-all gives Noskova break point. Kostyuk’s first serve hits the net and the second is perhaps too short which allows Noskova to take control of the point and break for the second time.
Noskova 3-3 Kostyuk Hello all. A comfortable service game, held to 15, from Noskova.
Aaarrgghh my temperamental computer forsook me, but it’s back now, so I can a) let you know it’s tight on Armstrong, Kostyuk and Noskova level at 2-2, and b) Stephen Flynn is here to chill with you for the next bit.
Next on Ashe (but not for 56 minutes): Tommy Paul (20) v Carlos Alcaraz (2).
Sabalenka praises Townsend as a really good player and focused, saying she’s hard to play, especially in New York, and thanking the crowd for respecting her. She wanted to play not just point by point but ball by ball, but allow me to interrupt her because Kostyuk has just flowed a gorgeous backhand cross-court to break Noskova back after a protracted game. She’s into the match, and it might just turn out to be as good as we’re hoping.
Aryna Sabalenka (1) beats Taylor Townsend 6-4 6-3
A good enough performance from the champ and world no 1. Townsend didn’t make it easy for her nor did she make it easy for herself, but she’s safely through and faces Noskova or Kostyuk next.
Sabalenka consolidates for a 6-4 5-3 lead. She’s not made this easy for herself, and will have to play better whoever she meets next, assuming she progresses, but we can be pretty sure she will.
Sure enough, she races to 0-40, and inside-out return lands close to the baseline, and she can’t adjust fast enough to do anything other than net. Sabalenka leads 6-4 4-3 and is close to the quarters – where she’ll meet Noskova or Kostyuk, their match just under way. And no one will be surprised to learn the former has started slowly, broken to 15; at some point, she’ll find a way of managing her nerves, but she’s not there yet.
Sabalenka now leads Townsend 6-4 3-3 and I’d not be surprised to see her break next game, taking the chance to break the back of the match.
Noskova and Kostyuk are out on to Armstrong and, thinking about it, they’re actually quite similar as players, excellent athletes who are strong from the back but don’t love pressure, especially when serving. Meantime, Sabalenka breaks back, Townsend just not able to sustain a level that gives her a chance to win.
Serving at 6-4 1-2, Sabalenka again finds herself trailing at 15-30, then a forehand error means 30-40 … and then Townsend does something, but my screen freezes so I don’t see what. Nevertheless, it’s enough for the eighth break of the match, and she trails 4-6 but leads 3-1; can she consolidate?
Next on Armstrong: Marta Kostyuk (11) v Linda Noskova (6). I can’t wait for this one.
By the way, it can’t be only me singing this every time anyone mentions Alexandras Eala.
Townsend’s charging the net whenever possible, daring Sabalenka to pass her, which makes a lot of sense – the champ isn’t at her best, so pretty much has to go for the shots, because she knows the doubles volleying isn’t to be messed with. She holds – I know! – for 1-0 in set two having lost the first.
Harri Heliovaara/Henry Patten beats Matteo Arnaldi/Jan-Lennard Struff 7-5 6-2
A comprehensive win. Next for them: Lammons/Withrow or Cabral/Tracy.
Townsend makes 15-30; pressure for Sabalenka, who responds well, with a service winner, then makes 40-30. Oh, but have a look, the American taking a return early and hooking it line into the corner for deuce … only for the champ to power through it, a thumping forehand securing a 6-4 opening set.
I was sad to hear what Oor Maddy had to say about her struggles following her defeat to Qinwen Zheng having burned a 5-0 final-set lead.
“I feel like I got off to a really good lead and then I just got really scared. I felt like I couldn’t swing. Tennis just feels really hard right now. I feel like that kind of took over.
“I think my level dropped and she started to play better. I just feel like I’ve kind of been struggling for a while now and I feel like I was able to play through it for a bit. I’m sure everyone could kind of see that I was struggling a bit. Inside it’s felt probably even bigger than that. Some weeks are easier than others. This week is obviously one of the harder ones just because you care so much. I’m gonna have to make some sort of changes.”
“I think it’s been something that’s been building for a while. I just kind of keep pushing it off and pushing it off because that’s how the tennis world works. It’s just to the point where I actually need to do something about it.”
Elite sport is hard.
Townsend holds for the first time – Sablenka has only done so once too – forcing the champ to serve for the set at 5-4. Meantime, on Armstrong, Patten/Heliovaara are a game away at 7-5 5-2.
Townsend does, though, make 0-30 … then 0-40, and when Sabalenka nets a forehand, she has one break back. That really was a nonsense game from the champ, who can play so much better than she has this year.
Yeah, I’m afraid this is going as predicted now, Sabalenka just too good. She breaks again for 5-2 – Townsend has yet to hold – and is now serving for the first set at 5-2.
Sabalenka breaks again and this time looks determined to consolidate; she does, as Heliovaara/Patten break Arnaldi/Struff for 7-5 3-1. The no 1 seeds are desperate to win this event, and it won’t be easy to stop them.
Townsend is going for it on return, hitting hard and looking to come in to use the volleying she’s honed playing doubles. She breaks back for a second time and looks to be enjoying the occasion.
Again, though, Sabalenka breaks the Townsend serve. She leads 2-1 and, though I’m going against the experts who expected a tight match, I don’t really see how she can win this. Sabalenka’s bottom level is just too high for her.
Two banging winners take Townsend to 0-30, as Heliovaara/Patten make 0-40 and three set points thanks to some sloppy stuff from Arnaldo/Struff … and take the second to secure a 7-5 lead. Meantime, Sabalenka is now down 15-40, sends down a double, and we’re back level at 1-1.
Heliovaara/Patten hold for 6-5 in the first, forcing Arnaldi/Struff to serve for a breaker, while Sabalenka burns various break points in game one before Townsend goes long hitting down the line on forehand. A statement start from the champ.
Taylor the Crow.
Townsend, by the way, has her own pop-up shop.
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We’re 4-4 in the doubles and knocking up on Ashe. Thinking more about the match, I’d expect Townsend to use top spin to hit cross at Sabalenka’s backhand, taking her outside the lines if possible. She’ll also try and slow the game down, I think, and frustrate the champ, who doesn’t enjoy the wind-ups.
Townsend comes out wearing a coat that wouldn’t be out of place in the Night’s Watch, photo to follow but, in the meantime:
It’s worth remembering what Patten said after winning Wimbledon, given the attempts to take doubles prize money away from players who need it, in order to pay already well remunerated singles players just a bit more. Frankly, it stinks.
This is a fantastic example of the joy that doubles can bring. The crowd – I hope you enjoyed it. I believe we should be growing opportunities in tennis for kids, whether they are doubles players, singles players, British, Finnish, from El Salvador or Croatia, wherever they are from, we should be growing the support instead of taking opportunities away.
Arnaldi/Struff recover from 0-30 down to hold for 2-2, but it does feel like a break is in the post.
In roughly nine minutes’ time, Sabalenka and Townsend will step out on to Ashe. I imagine the American will use plenty of slice to take pace off the ball, forcing the champ to generate it all herself, while also seeking to haul her to net. I don’t really think she’s got a path to victory, but if there is one, this is probably it.
We’re away in our dubs, Heliovaara/Patten up 1-0 on Arnaldi/Struff and with a break point … saved when Heliovaara returns into the net.
Mark Kovacs adds that the idea against Medvedev is to take time away from an opponent who’s really good when he has it. I guess that’ll mean powerful, flat shots, and perhaps some crowding of him at net, especially if he stands as far back as he usually does.
On sky, we’re watching Tiafoe’s coach with Christian Harrison, who’s been a great addition to Sky’s commentary team over the last year or so. He’s really good at noticing stuff with a pro’s eye, and also at explaining it; we’re being told that Tiafoe has always had a great backhand cross, but he’s now much better at going line. I remember years ago, Calvin Betton, Henry Patten’s coach and our resident expert, told me he’d seen a brilliant kid – our man here – but until now, he’s not hit the level he suggested he might reach. He is, though, hinting that he might get there, at 28 older than is usually the case, but progress isn’t always linear.
Also going on:
Preamble
Word up and welcome to the US Open 2026 – day eight!
It’s been an unusual week, especially in the men’s draw. Not long ago, the opening rounds felt like moving pieces about, entertainingly but academically, before the inevitable Sincaraz final. Now, though, we’ve seeds scattered all over the show and no clue what’s going to happen from match to match nor in the overall picture. Every player left knows that, for one reason or another, they’re living through the opportunity of a lifetime.
We begin today with some doubles, the Wimbledon champions Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten taking on Matteo Arnaldi and Jen-Lennard Struff. Then, when Ashe gets going half an hour later, the unusually vulnerable Aryna Sabalenka, defending her title, faces Taylor Townsend, another doubles champion but one more focused on singles than previously.
And as our day develops, Tommy Paul, one of five men hoping to become the first home champion since Andy Roddick in 2003, tests himself by testing Carlos Alcaraz. Though the champ looks in pretty good nick considering his long absence, the step-up in class will ask questions of him more searching than those posed hitherto.
Perhaps the match of the day, though, comes second on Armstrong. Marta Kostyuk, with Ukraine and Kyiv in particular on her mind as ever, seeks to defeat the nerves which have hampered her in her most important contests to this point, and avenge her Wimbledon semi-final defeat against surging eventual winner, Linda Noskova.
And if, to that, we add Daniil Medvedev, a former champ who can smell another title, against another history-seeking American in Francis Tiafoe; Jess Pegula, hunting that elusive first major against Soraya Cirstea; and Alex Michelsen’s meeting with Tomas Martin Etcheverry, we have yet other banging day.
Let’s go!
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