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topicnews · September 1, 2024

Summary US Open 2024 Day six Saturday, August 31 – The most important moments of yesterday in Flushing Meadows

Summary US Open 2024 Day six Saturday, August 31 – The most important moments of yesterday in Flushing Meadows

The sixth day of the 2024 US Open is over. It was a fascinating day of tennis with some exciting matches but not too many surprises. In our daily recap, we look back at the action on Saturday, August 31st. Written by James Lloyd (TennisUpToDate).

Tennis fans have been a little spoiled by the drama of the past few days, with some of the top seeds like Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic being eliminated. Yesterday’s top seeds mostly competed and performed, so there wasn’t much drama in that regard. Still, there were some exciting matches, which we’ll cover below. As always, we’ll start with the WTA.

Muchova, Pegula, Swiatek impress

The first two matches of the day featured some very good players and few surprises. Karolina Muchova showed once again that she is indeed one of the best players in the world when she is healthy and playing well. That was the fall at this year’s US Open, and she had no trouble navigating a somewhat difficult match against Anastasia Potapova, who can play some pretty devastating tennis on her days. Potapova is an aggressive baseliner, but Muchova knows how to handle that, and she managed to advance in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. We haven’t seen much of her this year as she has struggled with injuries once again, but with this level, the 28-year-old is certainly a player to keep an eye on until the end of the tournament. She could go all the way, and she has been in a Grand Slam final before.

The other match was played by two-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini. That’s how incredible her year has been. Some players wait their whole lives to reach two Grand Slam finals, and for her it happened in one year. This year it was twice, as she reached the final of Roland Garros and then the final of Wimbledon. Her dream of a US Open final lives on, as she is in the second week after a solid 6-3, 6-4 win over Yulia Putintseva. It was a complicated match with many breaks, but the ever-combatant Italian was once again able to show her sheer willpower and fight her way to victory. With the tennis she plays and the tenacity to never give up a point or a match, Paolini could be a player to keep an eye on and one with the potential to surprise.

Playing the first match on Ashe was Jessica Pegula, who has slowly moved from the underdog category to the favorite. She has a record of 12-1 in her last 13 matches, with just one loss to Aryna Sabalenka. She is playing at her home Slam where she has the necessary support from the fans and she is playing really great. Another stronger performance and a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Jessica Bouzas Maneiro confirmed that. Things were going well for Pegula, even if her opponent did a lot to end this match earlier than it should have. Overall a really solid win and she will hope to continue like this. Sara Errani’s incredible run at the US Open is over as she was defeated by Diana Shnaider 6-2, 6-2.

Jessica Pegula

The Russian may only be 20 years old, but she has had an incredible year with impressive performances against many players, including Coco Gauff. She plays a very aggressive style, attacks relentlessly, but she is also very intelligent. Mats Wilander was surprised that she is only 20 years old because she approaches her matches so intelligently. Shnaider has been doing great in recent weeks, and Jessica Pegula is next up for her. The two played each other recently and the American won, but don’t think the young Russian isn’t looking for an upset.

A few veterans also had wins. Caroline Wozniacki had a really easy draw in New York and she took advantage of that and won another match without too much trouble. Liudmila Samsonova also had a solid performance and won her match and both were through to the next round. Both could be a factor, even if they are not good enough to make it all the way.

In the night shift, Iga Swiatek first took the court to face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. It was an interesting match for a while, but eventually the Pole took control and won the match 6:4, 6:2. She is looking better and better and is now the big favorite alongside Aryna Sabalenka.

These two have looked the best so far in this tournament, and there’s a pretty good chance that one of them will end up being the winner. The last WTA match of the day was between Haddad Maia and Kalinskaya. The former won that match 6-3, 6-1 to move into the next round.

Draper, Sinner and Paul impress

There was some pretty good tennis on the ATP side too, with some solid first matches. Tomas Machac used the momentum from his win against Korda to put in another solid performance with his win against David Goffin. It was an interesting match, but the Czech gold medalist continued his good form from Paris here in New York, and the wins he got from mistakes were really good.

Another player who has been playing really solid tennis recently is Jack Draper, who found a good level in Cincinnati and managed to maintain it in New York. He faced van de Zandschulp, who had beaten Carlos Alcaraz in the official round, and Draper had no problems overall. His opponents didn’t play as brilliantly as they did against Alcaraz, which certainly worked to Draper’s advantage, but he was also quite solid.

<br />“/><figcaption>Jack Draper <br /></figcaption></figure> <p class=

Good from the baseline, good with the serve, and generally very confident when he had chances, while keeping his nerve when his opponents created break chances. All in all, a very solid performance from him and one to keep an eye on over the next few days. With the art and style he has been playing recently, he could go far.

Then it was time for Jannik Sinner to step on the court and the Italian again delivered a great performance. With Djokovic and Alcaraz eliminated, Sinner became the most likely winner of the trophy and he played really well. That bodes well for the Italian, who will face some tough tasks in the coming rounds, but nothing he couldn’t handle. He’s playing well, he’s feeling good and he’s very confident in what he can do, so keep an eye on Sinner over the next few days. He’s on his way to a second Grand Slam trophy.

Tommy Paul has also been amazing in recent weeks, but the American struggled against qualifier Diallo. The Canadian played really solid tennis all week, and Paul had to work really hard to win this match. He did so in four sets, leaving another American in the draw; there are still three of them left.

The most dramatic match of the day was between Jakub Mensik and Nuno Borges. Mensik is a fixture at the US Open and has performed brilliantly both this year and last year when he made his debut. Borges is a former college player who is very familiar with such courts. Their match ended in a five-set epic, with Borges pulling off an incredible victory. He came from 3-6 down in the fourth set tiebreak to win it 8-6, beating Mensik 6-0 in the final set. A great result for the player who beat Nadal in the Bastad Open final, as he is now in the top 30 in live racing.

Jordan Thompson is another name who continues to play well as he overcame a very difficult match against Matteo Arnaldi. Thompson has been playing a lot of tennis in recent weeks, has been really solid and has been picking apart the Italian’s game point by point. He will be no easy task for whoever he plays next.

The last two matches on the ATP site featured one dramatic and one less dramatic match. Medvedev faced Flavio Cobolli in a match where he largely had no problems as he was able to win in easy sets. Although he struggled with his serve, the Russian played really solid tennis and is one of the players who could do it. It’s important to remember that he won the trophy here in the past and also beat Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon recently. The most dramatic match was the one between de Minaur and Evans. It was a cracker match with many great rallies but unfortunately a hip injury caused Evans a lot of problems from the third set onwards. He held on and didn’t give up but he lost the last two sets 0-6, 0-6 as he could hardly move. De Minaur continues to impress despite not being 100% himself.

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