In a spellbinding performance, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, defeated World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev at the US Open in Flushing Meadows on Sunday.
Kyrgios is playing much better than he ever has at Flushing Meadows, too, building off the momentum of his run to the Wimbledon final in July.
He eliminated defending champion Medvedev 7-6 (11) 3-6 6-3 6-2 on Sunday night.
The 23rd-seeded Kyrgios was up to some of his usual behaviour warned for cursing, yelling at his guest box, playing to the crowd but he also outplayed Medvedev in a high-quality match.
“I’m just glad I’m finally able to show New York my talent,” said Kyrgios, never past the third round at the US Open until now.
“I haven’t had too many great trips here.”
Kyrgios said he has been playing well for the past couple of months and his latest performance was an example of that.
“Daniil is the defending champion so there’s a lot of pressure on his shoulders, bit I played really well. I’ve been playing amazing the last couple of months and what a place to do it, packed house in New York…I am extremely blessed,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
Medvedev will relinquish the top spot in the rankings after the US Open, with Ruud joining Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz as players with a chance to replace him.
At New York’s Arthur Ashe Stadium, 18-year-old Coco Gauff raised a fist, then wagged her right index finger, responding to, and riling up even more, a loud-louder-loudest crowd that was standing and screaming.
Gauff’s US Open opponent, Zhang Shuai, covered both ears with her hands to shield them from what she described later as a “Boom!” of sound. Gauff and her fans were reacting excitedly to quite a point, one in which the 18-year-old Floridian raced to her right for a defensive forehand, then changed directions to sprint and slide into a backhand that drew a netted volley from Zhang. Just four points later, Gauff was a quarterfinalist at Flushing Meadows for the first time.
Gauff, the French Open runner-up in June, came back in each set to beat China’s Zhang 7-5 7-5 on Sunday to become the youngest American to make it this far at the US Open since Melanie Oudin was 17 in 2009. “Here, I can’t hear myself scream. Makes me want to do it more. I think I’m feeding off the momentum a lot. I enjoy it,” said No. 12 seed Gauff, who meets No. 17 Caroline Garcia of France on Tuesday.
“New York is bringing out a side of me that I haven’t had since I was 15, so it’s nice.”
After trailing 5-4 in the opening set, then 5-3 in the second, which she was a point from losing, Gauff was buoyed by spectators who cheered her every point and chanted “Let’s go, Coco!” as the end neared. She improved to 4-0 in Ashe this year after having never previously won a match at the biggest arena in Grand Slam tennis.
How loud was it? “It got so racuous in there that I got a headache. I had to take an Advil,” said Gauff’s father, Corey. “I kept pinching myself. I’m like, My gosh, all of these people here for my daughter. You dream about this, but you never know if you’re going to realise that. She was pumping herself up and they responded to her. It sent chills up my spine.”
Zhang, at 33 the oldest woman to reach the fourth round, said it was more noise than she’s ever heard at a match. She praised Gauff’s play, calling her “a superstar” and adding: “Everything is very good. She’s so much younger than me. Her energy is so much better. She’s faster. She’s powerful.”
They competed mostly from the baseline, and the longer the exchanges, the more success Gauff found: She claimed a 45-26 edge in points that lasted five or more strokes.
(With inputs from agencies)