NEW YORK — Aryna Sabalenka lastly bought rolling after a nasty starting to the latest-starting match in US Open historical past, regrouping to beat No. 29 Ekaterina Alexandrova 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 early Saturday and attain the fourth spherical.
The No. 2 seed did not hit the primary shot of the match till 12:07 a.m. and had dropped the primary set barely a half-hour later. However she seized management early within the second set, successful 10 straight video games to open a 5-0 lead within the third.
The runner-up final 12 months in Flushing Meadows finally completed off the victory at 1:48, tied for the second-latest ending to a ladies’s match on the US Open, and superior to face No. 33 seed Elise Mertens on Sunday.
“I used to be glad that I used to be in a position to keep centered, it doesn’t matter what, and I used to be in a position to flip round this match,” Sabalenka mentioned.
Editor’s Picks
2 Associated
The earlier newest begin to a match on the US Open was precisely at midnight on Sept. 2, 1987, with Gabriela Sabatini occurring to beat Beverly Bowes 6-3, 6-3.
The night time session at Arthur Ashe Stadium started greater than an hour after its ordinary 7 p.m. beginning time following Frances Tiafoe’s victory over Ben Shelton within the afternoon that lasted 4 hours, 3 minutes.
Underneath a brand new late-night match coverage the event debuted this 12 months, the event referee can transfer any match that hasn’t gone on by 11:15. As an alternative, Sabalenka and Alexandrova have been stored on Ashe, lastly getting on the court docket after defending champion Novak Djokovic was shocked by No. 28 seed Alexei Popyrin in 4 units..
A U.S. Tennis Affiliation spokesman mentioned event officers stored the Grandstand accessible within the occasion they needed to maneuver the Sabalenka-Alexandrova match. A choice was going to be made by the tip of the fourth set of the Djokovic-Popyrin match.
Sabalenka mentioned her need was to stay on Ashe, although she would favor or not it’s within the opener of the night time session and put the lads second.
The larger drawback was the short begin by Alexandrova, who broke Sabalenka’s serve twice within the first set.
“She simply crushed it. She performed so effectively,” Sabalenka mentioned.
However as soon as Sabalenka broke for a 3-1 lead within the second set, she bought going shortly from there to wrap it up sooner than the most recent finish of a ladies’s match, when Maria Sakkari completed off Bianca Andreescu at 2:13 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2021.
Sabalenka hoped to be in mattress by 4 a.m. and sleep so long as she might.
“Technically, I did my follow session immediately, so I am good for tomorrow, proper?” she joked. “Can I simply inform my workforce that? It is 2 a.m.; we rely it like immediately.”
In different ladies’s matches, No. 26 seed Paula Badosa got here again from a set down and staved off a match level late within the third set to succeed in the spherical of 16 on the US Open for the primary time.
Badosa in the end prevailed towards Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse in a third-set tiebreak 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8).
It was the second deciding-set tiebreak performed on the ladies’s aspect this event (Ena Shibahara defeated Daria Saville within the first spherical).
Badosa has now reached the spherical of 16 in any respect 4 majors. She is the fifth Spanish girl within the Open period to succeed in the fourth spherical in any respect 4 Slams, following Garbine Muguruza, Conchita Martínez, Carla Suarez Navarro and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario.
Badosa subsequent faces China’s Wang Yafan, who on Friday ousted No. 20 seed Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Azarenka, a three-time US Open finalist, dedicated 32 unforced errors and dropped serve six instances within the 2-hour, 22-minute match.
American Emma Navarro, the No. 13 seed, wanted three units however bought previous No. 19 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Up subsequent for Navarro is a Wimbledon rematch with No. 3 Coco Gauff within the spherical of 16.
“I did an excellent job of neutralizing her serve and simply taking part in actually aggressive from the baseline and pushing again towards her groundstrokes,” Navarro, who’s from South Carolina and received an NCAA title for Virginia, mentioned about that matchup final month. “After which at all times getting yet another ball again within the court docket.”
Mertens superior after defeating 2017 finalist Madison Keys 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-4 in a tightly fought contest.
Keys, who reached the semifinals a 12 months in the past, began robust however couldn’t break by way of Mertens’ defenses ultimately as she was unable to transform on 5 break level possibilities within the closing set.
No. 7 seed Zheng Qinwen, the 2024 Olympic singles gold medalist and Australian Open runner-up, shook off gradual begins in her first two matches and took down unseeded German Jule Niemeier 6-2, 6-1 to succeed in the spherical of 16 for a second straight 12 months.
“Lastly, it is the primary match I received in two units. … It isn’t [been] simple for me to play after the Olympic Video games,” mentioned Zheng, who has famous earlier struggles with focus after deep event runs. “I am beginning to discover my tennis and to play higher and higher.”
Zheng is the second Chinese language girl within the Open period to succeed in the spherical of 16 in back-to-back US Opens, becoming a member of Li Na, who did so in 2008 and 2009.
Zheng subsequent faces Donna Vekic, whom she defeated within the gold-medal match in Paris. Since 1988, the one different matchup to happen each on the US Open and within the Olympic singles gold medal match was Steffi Graf vs. Sabatini in 1988. The US Open closing was performed proper earlier than the Seoul Olympics, and Graf beat Sabatini each occasions. Tennis returned to the Olympic program in 1988 after an extended hiatus.
Vekic, who beat American Peyton Stearns 7-5, 6-4, mentioned she was optimistic she would do higher towards Zheng on New York’s hardcourts only a few weeks after coming off second finest on clay on the Paris Video games.
“She performed an unbelievable match in Paris. She was too good that match. I had couple of possibilities however did not handle to tug them off,” the twenty fourth seed instructed reporters. “But it surely’s a brand new match. We’re a few weeks later. It is a completely different floor, fortunately for me.”
ESPN Stats & Data, The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
