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Key events
Righto, I need to dash, so here’s John Brewin to hang with you for the next little bit; Potapova leads Andreeva 7-5 0-2 30-all, and Swiatek leads Zheng 5-1 deuce.
Andreeva goes down 0-15 then complains about spectators coming in once rallies are in progress. Then, at 30-15, she goes slightly wide with an attempted winner down the line … only to conjure a delectable drop, waved from above shoulder-height, taking her to within a point of consolidation. Potapova, though, makes deuce, two big forehands restoring it after Andreeva makes advantage. From there, though, the French Open champ closes out for 5-7 2-0 while, on Ashe, Zheng is starting to compete, holding to save the bagel then pushing Swiatek to deuce as she seeks to serve out the set.
Andreeva has advised herself. Before she was broken, she exchanged frantic gesticulations with her coach, but she comes from behind in the game to raise break point as Potapova loses focus, a booming backhand converting 30-40 into 1-0.
Yeah Zheng isn’t ready for the skill and intensity Swiatek brings to the court. Anisimova is an amazing player and her backhand is probably my favourite shot in the game, men or women, but she doesn’t have that nastiness about her – yet – while Swiatek is defined by it. She leads 4-0 and, in the time it takes me to write this post, holds for 5-0.
Excellent hitting from Potapova, who gets to 0-15 courtesy of a double, then unleashes on the forehand to make 0-30; Andreeva is under it. And she buckles, another double donating three st points … converted when a backhand flies a good foot long, at least. Potapova leads 7-5 and doesn’t she deserve it! This has been a performance of confidence and enterprise; Andreeva isn’t quite sure how to respond.
Potapova is wearing the pressure really well, holding to 15 and forcing Andreeva to serve for a breaker at 6-5. There’s a lovely abandon to her game: she’s come to attack and she’s not second-guessing herself, rather committing to her shots and getting good value for them.
On Ashe, meanwhile, Swiatek holds then breaks Zheng immediately for 2-0.
Excellent work from Andreeva, racing in to pick up a net cord and finding a decent riposte, eventually making 15-0 with an overhead. But from there, Potapova makes 15-30, only to go fractionally long with a backhand to end a terrific rally. Nevertheless, she remains two points from the set … but not for long, Andreeva quickly closing out for 5-5.
Back on Armstrong, we’re still level but at 4-4, Potapova playing with confidence and poise. She holds to 30, and Andreeva must now serve to stay in set one.
Zheng and Swiatek are out on court; Zheng, the Olympic champion, had to come through qualifying after missing time with an elbow injury, but two weeks of competition have brought her into the main event nicely loose. I’d be surprised if she finds a way to win here, but she did at those Olympics, so knows she can.
Potapova has made an impression on each of Andreeva’s service games and she makes 15-30 on this latest one. But from there, the hold is sealed, and these two good mates are playing a really entertaining match so far; it’s 3-3.
Now Potapova holds for 3-2, and we’ll shortly have action from Ashe too, where Swiatek and Zheng are due.
Again, Andreeva struggles on serve, but at 30-all, Potapova thwacks a return long. Again, though, when a second delivery arrives, she assaults it, a deep return facilitating a clean-up forehand, muscled inside-out from the backhand corner; deuce. But though Andreeva doesn’t convert her first advantage, she immediately earns another, sealing the hold with a service winner to level the set at 2-2.
Ridicuolous athleticism from Andreeva, sliding into net to make a volley, has Potapova applauding at 0-15. But she certainly isn’t at 15-30, when a net cord leaves her one to dispatch, only for her to unload the suitcase at a ball not requiring violence, overhitting by a long way to donate two break-back points. And Andreeva only needs one; Potapova leads 2-1 in the first.
And Potapova holds to 30. She’s never been beyond round four of a major – she’s fallen at that stage twice in Paris – and will know the extent of her task today. As if to underline the point, Andreeva opens with an ace, but a forehand winner makes 15-all and we wind up at 30s. Just watching this game, I think Potapova fancies tucking into her opponent’s second serve; she attacks one, then unleashes a murderous inside-out backhand, followed by a fore to the same corner – in the process raising break point. And, though she accidentally sends over a moon ball, Andreeva swipes her attempted winner wide and trails 0-2.
My predictions during this competition have been an absolute nonsense, and I fancied Anisimova to win the women’s event, but misguided or not, to beat her on a hard court requires a proper standard, and Potapova did it in straights. She’s serving first on Armstrong…
I can’t lie, part of me wondered if Andreeva would ever win a slam. Not because I doubted her talent, but because I feared that at some point in every major, she’d be out-hit by an opponent with a bigger but not necessarily better game. In the event, though, her preternatural grasp of the game is worth more than a few mph, the question no longer how but how many.
Preamble
Word up and welcome to the US Open 2026 – day nine!
We begin on Armstrong with Mirra Andreeva, now a grand slam champion so spieling with house money … except not spieling with house money at all because she’s a killer with the potential to win multiple. She won’t, though, find things easy against Anastasia Potapova, who binned Coco Gauff in Paris and Amanda Anisimova in the last round here. If her high-risk, high-reward style is as grooved now as then, we’re in for a treat.
Opening up on Ashe, half an hour later, we’ve Iga Swiatek, winner in 2022. Yet to lose a set in the competition, she might’ve just found her mislaid mojo, but Qinwen Zheng will be full of confidence having come back from 0-5 down in the third set to get rid of Madison Keys.
Our likeliest match of the day comes in the second wave of singles contests, with Naomi Osaka, twice a winner of this competition, meeting the Aussie Open champ and potential world no 1, Elena Rybakina. It’s been a while since Osaka threatened to add to her four majors, but her ability is such that, at some point, she’ll surely go deep and, even if she doesn’t, remains more than capable of beating anyone at any time.
As for the men’s competition, I can’t wait to see how Alexander Blockx, the 21-year-old Belgian, gets on in the biggest match of his career so far. He dealt harshly with Flavio Cobolli in round three, coming from a set down to power home 3, 0 and 3, and will view Francisco Cerundolo as a very beatable opponent.
Then, later in the day, Arthur Gea – also 21 – who first caught our attention by beating Jiri Lehecka in Melbourne, meets Botic van der Zandschulp, whose giant serve has already helped him sort two seeds in Zizou Bergs and Alex de Minaur. That one’s on Grandstand while, on Armstrong, Karen Khachanov, powerful but lacking hands and agility, faces his inverse, Learner Tien, lacking power but with touch and speed. It is not at all easy to pick winners, but luckily we don’t have to – we can simply immerse and enjoy.
Let’s go!
#Open #tennis #Swiatek #Zheng #Osaka #Rybakina #day #live #Open #Tennis
